St. Paul, Minnesota – Disgraced police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in a case that rocked the nation, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Former Minneapolis law enforcement officer Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison in June for state murder and manslaughter convictions.

Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on Floyd's neck, a Black man, for over nine minutes in May 2020 while Floyd was on the ground handcuffed, sparking international Black Lives Matter protests and racial reckoning.

Besides his state convictions, Chauvin was also charged federally for depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights, for which he changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday morning. He originally pled guilty, and has also appealed his state sentencing.

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The new plea will avoid a federal trial, and likely add to the time he is already spending behind bars on his state sentences.

The court has not yet set a date for sentencing on the federal charge.

As part of Wednesday's plea deal, Chauvin also pleaded guilty in an earlier case involving violating the rights of a 14-year-old boy during a 2017 arrest. The officer held the boy by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight, and similarly held his knee on the victim’s neck when he was handcuffed. He survived.

Court filings showed Chauvin had also used excessive force in upper body restraints at least seven times in the past.

"Had he been held accountable for what he did in 2017 to that minor, George Floyd will still be here," Brandon Williams, Floyd's nephew, told the AP on Wednesday.

With federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors have to prove the officer knew what they were doing was wrong, but acted regardless.

All four of the officers involved in Floyd's killing – Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and Tou Thao – have been charged federally of depriving Floyd of his civil rights.

The latter three will have their federal trials in January and their state trials in March of next year.

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Federal prosecutors are recommending a sentence of up to 25 years for Chauvin, which would run concurrently with his 22-year state sentence.

According to reporters on the scene during Chauvin's plea, Chauvin both entered and left the courtroom in handcuffs, and signed his own guilty plea into the record.

"It's a good day for justice," Floyd's brother Philonise said as he left the courtroom, alongside other members of the Floyd family, but also reiterated: "We can never have George back."