Jurors have begun deliberating the fate of Derrick Thompson, who is charged with killing five young Somali-American women in a 2023 car crash.
Deliberations began at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, after prosecutors and Thompson’s defense attorney made their closing arguments in the trial.
Prosecutors say Thompson was driving a rented SUV at about 100 miles per hour when he abruptly exited Interstate 35W, ran a red light and T-boned a sedan, killing five young women inside.
Thompson faces 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide and five counts of third-degree murder for the deaths of Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sagal Hersi, 19; Siham Odhowa, 19; and Sabiriin Ali, 17.
“This was murder,” said Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey. “These five young women lost their lives as a direct consequence of the reckless, selfish, destructive choices of another driver.”
Thompson’s defense attorney, Tyler Bliss said in his closing argument that he found some of the state’s witnesses during the trial were not credible. He said jurors couldn’t trust Thompson’s brother Damarco Thompson’s testimony denying that he was in the vehicle during the crash. Damarco Thompson took the stand Wednesday during a surprise move near the end of the trial.
“Who on Earth would want to be associated with this situation?” Bliss said.
Prosecutors say Thompson showed ‘indifference’ to the women being killed.
Starkey began her closing arguments Thursday morning by walking jurors through each time Thompson and his rented Cadillac Escalade were caught on camera from the time Thompson rented the SUV, to the moments it was seen speeding on the interstate, to when it rammed into the Honda Civic carrying the five women. Footage showed him crossing Lake Street on foot and entering the Taco Bell parking lot after the crash, where he was shortly afterward apprehended by officers.
Starkey explained to jurors the meaning of a third-degree murder charge, which requires that the defendant was acting “eminently dangerous to others” and “without regard for human life.”
“So what does indifference sound like?” Starkey asked.
Pictures of the destroyed Honda Civic were shown. A recording of Thompson’s voice from the night of the crash that was taken from a police squad car played, of him asking police officers “How long is this going to take” and that he had Friday night plans he didn’t want to miss out on.
“Derrick Thompson only cared about Derrick Thompson,” Starkey said. “He worried about getting away, not anybody else. That is indifference to human life, members of the jury.”
Starkey said Thompson was driving so recklessly, that it wasn’t a matter of it someone would be killed, but when.
She said DNA evidence and witness statements also show that Thompson was the driver of the Escalade. She said the passenger side doors were shut when officers arrived at the Escalade after the crash, and that they had to exert force to open them.
Defense says there are ‘blind spots’ in the prosecution’s case
Bliss grew impassioned during his closing argument Thursday morning, gesturing with his hands as he spoke and raising his voice.
He said there were “blind spots” in the prosecution’s case and inconsistencies in the statements made by witnesses, such as Minneapolis Police Sgt. David Ligneel. He said Ligneel had different answers for the distance between where Thompson rented the car and scene of the crash, and that Ligneel previously testified in another hearing that there was a 50% chance that Damarco Thompson was a passenger in the Escalade at one point.
He also pointed to a set of keys that were found in the Escalade, which Bliss said belonged to a Dodge Challenger, and that Damarco Thompson had them the night of the crash.
“The state has never acknowledged it and never conducted the basic investigation that would be required in this case,” Bliss said.
At one point during Bliss’ argument, a family member of one of the women killed left the courtroom. Her sobs could be heard from inside the court as Bliss continued.
Bliss said whoever was driving the Escalade hit the brakes before the crash. And while the driver’s actions were reckless, they don’t meet the requirements of a murder charge.
“Whoever was driving that car was a knucklehead,” he said. “But ladies and gentlemen, they simply were not acting with the depraved mind.”
In her rebuttal, Starkey held up the spare keys to the Challenger to the jury in an evidence bag, and stated that they were one of the prosecution’s exhibits in the case.
“There is only one person who very clearly was lying repeatedly in this case, was telling affirmative falsehoods and was attempting to get away with murder,” she said. “And that’s Derrick Thompson.”
Thompson’s trial consisted of five days of testimony. Prosecutors called about 30 witnesses in total. Family members of each young woman who was killed also spoke during “spark of life” testimony, which allows jurors to learn more about the victims in a case.
Three sisters, a brother and a father testified about the pain their families have endured since their loved ones were killed in the crash almost two years ago. Their emotional testimony solicited sobs from other family members in the courtroom, and tears from some jurors.
Bliss did not call any witnesses for the defense, and Thompson did not testify.
