CNN’s Van Jones: Chauvin Sentencing a ‘Punch in the Gut’ — ‘This Is Not Justice’

CNN contributor Van Jones reacted with emotion Friday on “Newsroom” to the 22-and-a-half year sentence of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

Discussing how with good behavior, Chauvin is likely to serve closer to 15 years, Senior legal analyst  Elie Honig said, “Justice is imperfect. This is a serious sentence. Derek Chauvin will be in prison for 15 years. He’s 45 now until he’s 60. That said, I think this is light. I think the judge should’ve sentenced him more. Minnesota guidelines say you can double the 15 years if there is one aggravator. This judge found four aggravators and didn’t really come super close to doubling it.”

Jones said, “Very disappointing, very disappointing 15 years, I know people doing 15 years for victimless crimes of drug possession. Very disappointing the level of any one of those aggravators. What this man did, it should’ve been the maximum of the maximum. This is disappointing. I don’t think it’s going to cause outrage. But it’s a punch in the gut. This guy’s life is worth more than 15 years. It was. What that officer did is worth more than 15 years. Law enforcement across the country should look at something like this and say, look, you can’t do this type of stuff. You’re never going to come back home. It’s disappointing.”

When Honig pointed out there were two federal indictments still pending against Chauvin, Jones said, “The feds can come in and do more, and they should do more because this is not justice.”

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