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The Minnesota Supreme Court has thrown out the third-degree murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, saying the evidence is “insufficient” to maintain it.
Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, a lesser charge, for the 2017 killing of 911 caller Justine Ruszczyk. He was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison — standard for third-degree murder.
The standard sentence for second-degree manslaughter is 48 months. His anticipated release was in 2027, but that will likely occur sooner given that a manslaughter charge carries a lighter recommended sentence.
Jurors acquitted Noor on the most serious count, second-degree intentional murder.
In appealing the third-degree murder conviction, his attorneys had focused on language in the rarely used statute that speaks of “perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.”
The charge is often used against drug dealers in overdose deaths where the defendant didn’t single out a particular victim.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Noor’s conviction, ruling that the third-degree murder charge applied even though Noor fired his gun at a specific person.
However, in a ruling posted Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court said “the mental state necessary for depraved-mind murder … is a generalized indifference to human life,” which the court said did not exist in this instance.
Noor fatally shot Ruszczyk, also known as Justine Damond, in July 2017 after she called 911 to report what she thought was a possible sexual assault happening in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home.
He had been riding in the passenger seat of his squad car when he and his partner, Matthew Harrity, responded to the call. Harrity later told investigators that they heard a thump while they were idling in the alley near Ruszczyk’s house.
Ruszczyk briefly appeared near the driver-side window, he said, and that’s when Noor fired one shot, killing her.
Noor is at an undisclosed correctional facility, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Influence on Derek Chauvin’s conviction?
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruling may hold implications for former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was also convicted of third-degree murder, as well as second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
During Chauvin’s trial, Judge Peter Cahill struck the third-degree murder charge, saying it required that the defendant’s action be focused on more than one person.
But the Minnesota Court of Appeals of Appeals decision on Noor’s case forced the judge to reinstate the third-degree murder charge for Chauvin.
Because second-degree murder is the most serious charge, it’s the only charge that Chauvin was sentenced on.
Even if Noor’s successful appeal led to the reversal of Chauvin’s third-degree murder conviction, his sentence would remain the same unless his second-degree murder conviction was also overturned.
