I. THE DISPOSITIONAL AND DURATIONAL DEPARTURES REQUESTED BY MR. CHAUVIN ARE NOT APPROPRIATE.

Mr. Chauvin seeks a probationary sentence (a dispositional departure from the presumptive prison sentence under the sentencing guidelines) or, alternatively, a downward durational departure from the presumptive guidelines range for a prison sentence. This Court concludes neither is appropriate in this case.

A mitigated dispositional departure (i.e. probation) is not appropriate because there has been no persuasive showing that Mr. Chauvin is particularly amenable to probation, see State v. Soto, 855 N.W.2d 303, 308-12 (Minn. 2014), and State v. Love, 350 N.W.2d 359, 361 (Minn. 1984), and because a probationary sentence would be disproportionate and understate the severity of Mr. Chauvin’s offense. See Soto, 855 N.W.2d at 310-13 (reversing trial court’s dispositional departure to probation in first-degree criminal sexual conduct case as an abuse of discretion, rejecting arguments similar to those made by Mr. Chauvin here relying on age, lack of criminal history, and defendant’s respectful attitude while in court as being far outweighed by other relevant considerations regarding the severity of the offense).

A “durational departure must be based on factors that reflect the seriousness of the offense, not the characteristics of the offender.” State v. Solberg, 882 N.W.2d 618, 623 (Minn. 2016). “A downward durational departure is justified only if the defendant’s conduct was significantly less serious than that typically involved in the commission of the offense.” Id. at 624. A downward durational departure below the “bottom of the box” 128-month sentence is not appropriate in this case given this Court’s finding of the presence of aggravated sentencing factors.

Mr. Chauvin’s continuing insistence that he believed “he was simply performing his lawful duty in assisting other officers in the arrest of George Floyd” and was acting “in good faith reliance [on] his own experience as a police officer and the training he had received,” see Def. Sent. Mem. (June 2, 2021) at 11, was rejected by every supervisory and training officer of the Minneapolis Police Department who testified at trial as well as by the jury. This includes MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo, MPD Sgts. David Pleoger and Jon Edwards, MPD Lt. Johnny Mercil, and MPD Commander Katie Blackwell.