(The Post Millennial)—J. Alexander Kueng, one of the four former Minneapolis police officers tried over the death of George Floyd, is scheduled to be released from prison on Wednesday. Kueng, who had been serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for aiding and abetting manslaughter, is set to leave the low-security Elkton Correctional Institution in Ohio.
His release was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which noted that federal inmates typically serve 85 percent of their sentences but “there is leeway with the First Step Act and other factors.”
According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Kueng will return to Minnesota and be put under supervised release. State law says that most offenders serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and then the remainder of the sentence is on supervised release. Kueng will be under supervised release until March 2026.
Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020 sparked national protests about race relations and police brutality. Police officer Derek Chauvin was alleged to have knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9-and-a-half minutes. Kueng was implicated and accused of helping subdue Floyd while he was restrained on the ground. Former officer Thomas Lane was alleged to have held Floyd’s legs, and Tou Thao was convicted over preventing bystanders from intervening in the arrest, according to CBS News.
All four officers were fired and subsequently convicted on both state and federal charges. Lane was released from prison in August 2023 after serving a 2.5-year federal sentence. Thao was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Chauvin, convicted of murder and manslaughter, is currently serving a 22.5-year sentence for state charges and an additional 21-year sentence for federal civil rights violations. Chauvin recently won a victory during his appeal and his attorneys will be able to review autopsy records that may indicate that Chauvin’s arrest was not the cause of death.
