Here's What to Watch as the Trial for J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao Begins

     Ahmaud Arbery's family achieved accountability and justice with two separate criminal convictions for murder and a hate crime that each of the three murderers will spend the rest of their lives in prison for, state laws in Georgia establishing penalties for hate crimes and overhauling citizen's arrest statues, and the signing by President Biden of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Unfortunately, Breonna Taylor's family never saw accountability with the acquittal of the man who helped murder the young woman and also apparently had a history of sexually harassing women; in this case, we must keep up the pressure for the Justice Department to file charges while acknowledging that even the historic $12 million settlement the Taylor family reached with Louisville as well as a federal investigation into the department cannot bring her back. Slowly but surely, George Floyd's family is seeing the accountability and the justice they deserve. 

     Back in April 2021, Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and would ultimately be sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. He also faced federal charges for violating the civil rights of Floyd and a black boy he kneeled on until he was unconscious, pleading guilty in exchange for a sentence of 20 to 25 years in prison that has yet to be formally handed down. In February 2022, just days after the McMichaels and Roddie Bryan were convicted of hate crimes for murdering Arbery, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, the three officers who helped Chauvin murder Floyd, were convicted of civil rights violations in a federal trial. All three are expected to be sentenced toward the end of this year. While they will almost certainly appeal and could face life in prison, they will likely lose their appeals and receive a sentence ranging from five years to 25 years in federal prison.

     In May 2022, Thomas Lane pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He will be sentenced on September 21st, 2022, and receive three years in prison (to be served in a federal facility). While it is encouraging that he accepted responsibility for his actions, it is also worth noting that he only pleaded guilty to the state crime after taking his federal case to trial. In the meantime, however, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng will begin their trial on June 13th.

     This trial will be an interesting one. Both white officers have now been convicted and are awaiting sentences. This leaves Hmong officer Tou Thao and black officer J. Alexander Kueng as the two who will stand trial. The murder of Floyd started a nationwide conversation about race, and the role of Asian Americans like Thao was a part of that. This trial, unlike the Chauvin trial, will not be livestreamed, which will eliminate much of the coverage that existed during the Chauvin state trial last spring. If they are convicted on all charges, they could face a massive mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in a state prison, which, alongside their conviction on two federal charges (compared to just one charge for Lane), could earn them sentences on par with those Chauvin is set to serve.

     This trial is the last major step in accountability for the Floyd family. They received a historic $27 million settlement from Minneapolis-St. Paul, saw all four officers face the music on federal and state charges, rejoiced at a federal investigation into the MPD, and joined President Biden as he signed an executive order overhauling as much of America's policing system as he could. This, combined with dozens of state laws passed after Floyd's death, puts the family on track to begin achieving justice, justice to prevent incidents like the murder of George Floyd from happening to other black Americans. Now, Congress needs to break the gridlock, pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and secure justice for the Floyd and Taylor families.

     It has been two years since George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor were murdered in the spring of 2020. There's still so much to do, from the sentences for Chauvin, Lane, Kueng, Thao, the McMichaels, and Roddie Bryan to the state trial of Thao and Kueng to the tax evasion trial of Chauvin and his wife to ensuring these men are not able to appeal their convictions and sentences to getting federal charges filed against the men who murdered Breonna Taylor. However, so much has already been done, and, by the time three years has passed since the murder of Floyd, I hope we will have used this momentum to say that both accountability and justice has been achieved for all three of these families and for black Americans around the country.