Damond case sees rare officer conviction
A Minneapolis police officer was convicted of third-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who approached his squad car minutes after calling to report a possible rape behind her home.
It’s a rare instance of an officer being convicted after asserting he fired in a life-or-death situation.
Mohamed Noor was also convicted of manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the US and Australia whose death bewildered and angered people in both countries.
Noor, a two-year veteran who testified that he shifted to policing from a career in business because he “always wanted to serve,” was acquitted of the most serious charge of intentional second-degree murder.
Minnesota sentencing guidelines call for up to 15 years on the murder conviction and nearly five years on the manslaughter conviction, although judges aren’t bound by the guidelines and can impose much lower sentences.
Noor was handcuffed and taken into custody immediately despite his lawyer’s request that he be free on bail pending sentencing on June 7.
He showed no visible emotion and did not look back at his family, but his wife was crying.
Members of Damond’s family, also in the courtroom, showed no evident emotion.
Besides the tragic circumstances of the shooting, the case carried elements of race and immigration.
Damond, 40, was white; Noor, 33, is among the many Somali immigrants who settled in Minnesota after coming to America due to civil war in his home country. His hiring was celebrated by city leaders eager to diversity the police force in a city rich in immigrants; after he was charged, he was fired.
The verdict came swiftly, with the jury deliberating about 111⁄2 hours over two days.
Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, said the family was satisfied. He said the jury’s decision reflected respect for the rule of law and the sanctity of life.
“Justine was killed by a police officer, an agent of the state. We believe he was properly charged with a crime.”
Minnesota’s third-degree murder charge means causing the death of another through a dangerous act “without regard for human life but without intent to cause” death. Second-degree manslaughter is defined as creating unreasonable risk of causing death or great bodily harm to another through culpable negligence.
Noor and his partner were rolling down the alley behind Damond’s home and checking out the emergency call just before the shooting.
Noor testified that a loud bang on the squad car scared his partner and that he saw a woman raising her arm appear at his partner’s window. He said he fired to protect his partner’s life.
Prosecutors attacked Noor for shooting without seeing a weapon or Damond’s hands.
They also questioned whether the loud bang was real.