Conservative commentator Glenn Beck on Tuesday urged Fox News viewers to have compassion for Derek Chauvin’s family.
Earlier Tuesday, Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for his role in the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man whose killing last summer ignited protests and national conversation around police brutality and systemic racism.
In a chat with Tucker Carlson later, Beck appealed to Fox News’ primetime audience: “This takes another man who got up one day and wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m going to kill somebody,’ away from his family — perhaps for the rest of his life,” Beck said.
Chauvin pleaded not guilty on all counts, the most serious of which held a likely penalty of 12.5 years in prison under sentencing guidelines for first-time offenders. His sentencing is expected to take place later in the summer.
Beck suggested being “more like the Amish,” who, he said, mourned with the killer’s family after someone massacred some of their own. It appeared to be a reference to a case in 2006, when a gunman shot 10 young Amish girls, killing five. Members of the community attended his funeral, according to numerous contemporaneous reports.
“It’s all about collective justice and collective guilt,” decried Beck of public reaction to the sentencing.