Jurors in Derrick Thompson’s murder trial watched graphic surveillance video Thursday of a Cadillac Escalade SUV barreling into a Honda Civic at about 100 miles an hour, engulfing the smaller vehicle in a cloud of smoke.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joseph Paquette told jurors in his opening statement that the 2023 incident is not “sufficiently described as a crash or a collision.”
“It was an explosion,” he said. “The Honda Civic was damaged beyond all recognition.”
The Honda Civic’s five occupants were instantly killed. The young Somali American women — Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sagal Hersi, 19; Siham Odhowa, 19; and Sabiriin Ali, 17 — were returning home after checking on their outfits for a wedding the next day; some just had henna applied for the occasion.
About 30 of their family members and friends packed the courtroom Thursday, some holding their heads in their hands, as the prosecution and Thompson’s defense attorney gave opening statements outlining their positions on the case. The first two witnesses also testified in the trial, which is expected to last at least through next week.
“No one from that vehicle could have survived,” Paquette told the jurors. “And no one did.”
One of the victim’s mothers gasped and left the courtroom in tears after the video of the crash was played.
Thompson is charged with three criminal counts per victim for a total of 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide and five counts of third-degree murder.
Thompson’s attorney, Tyler Bliss, told jurors in his opening statement that the crash was an “unspeakable tragedy” that “destroyed” five lives, but that prosecutors do not have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to prove that Thompson was driving the vehicle. Bliss said DNA from multiple individuals was found in the SUV.
“When the dust settles, the smoke clears, you’ll see multiple doors to this vehicle open,” Bliss said of the SUV, implying that there was more than one person in the car.
Bliss previously filed a notice in court noting that he intends to argue that Thompson’s brother, Damarco Thompson, was driving the SUV. He did not explicitly name Thompson’s brother in his opening statement.
According to the charges: Thompson was driving a rented SUV on June 16, 2023, when a state trooper detected him driving 95 miles-per-hour in a 55-mile zone on Interstate 35W.
Thompson exited the highway about 10 p.m. and ran through a red light at the intersection of Lake Street and 2nd Avenue in Minneapolis, T-boning the Honda Civic. Thompson allegedly fled the scene on foot, but was arrested in a nearby parking lot.
‘Shockingly reckless, incredibly selfish’
Paquette began the prosecution’s opening statement by stating all five women’s names. He called Thompson’s actions “shockingly reckless, incredibly selfish and unspeakably foolish.”
“He ended the lives of five young women and brought about a devastating wave of shock, pain and grief for five families who will never be the same,” Paquette said.
The women were a group of close-knit friends and relatives who have been described as “pillars” of their community. They had piled into Sahra Gesaade’s car, and she was going to drive each woman home.
“The next moment they were gone, they did not attend the wedding the following day, nor will they ever attend a wedding of their own” Paquette said.
Thompson fled the crash scene, and allegedly lied about not being involved when police found him in a Taco Bell parking lot.
“He fled without checking to see if anyone was hurt,” Paquette said.
Paquette told jurors that Thompson’s name was on a rental agreement for the 6,000-pound SUV, and that his DNA was found on items in the vehicle and parts of the car, including the driver’s side door.
Paquette also tried to get ahead of Bliss’s case, which was presented after the prosecution’s opening statement. DNA from Thompson’s brother, Damarco Thompson, was “possibly” found on one location in the vehicle, Paquette told jurors, adding that it’s an “open question” whether Damarco Thompson was ever in the vehicle at all.
Paquette told jurors that the evidence in the case was going to come down to what was going on in the defendant’s head before, during and after the crash.
Defense asks jurors to focus on evidence, not tragedy
Bliss asked jurors to solely look at the evidence when deciding the case. He said the case comes down to who was driving the vehicle, and that driver’s state of mind.
“You’ll see a car accident that has an immense and unspeakable result. The question of tragedy is not what this trial is about,” Bliss said.
Regarding the evidence, Bliss said that the prosecution doesn’t have enough to prove that his client was driving. He said prosecutors also don’t have sufficient evidence to prove that Thompson had a “depraved mind” at the time of the crash, a necessary element of the third-degree murder charges.
“Ladies and gentlemen, they simply don’t have the quantum of evidence that my client committed these crimes,” Bliss told the jury.
First witnesses testify
Prosecutors called two witnesses Thursday afternoon following the opening statements.
Kanitra Walker, Thompson’s ex-girlfriend, testified first, telling the court that she and Thompson were together for nine years, and were “working things out” at the time of the crash.
She said she spoke with Thompson after the crash while he was in the hospital. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey asked Walker if Thompson told her during that call who was driving the car.
Walker said she couldn’t remember. Starkey showed her a transcript of the testimony she gave at Thompson’s federal trial last year on gun and drug charges stemming from the same crash.
“Did he indicate to you that he was driving?” Starkey asked, referring to the transcript.
Walker replied that she “would assume” he did.
“Did he make any statement about anybody being with him in the car at the time of the crash?” Starkey asked.
“No,” Walker replied.
Bliss asked Walker under cross-examination if she read news reports after the crash to learn more about it. She said she had.
“Once I saw that five girls lost their lives, I was in a different world,” she said, her voice breaking.
Prosecutors also called Andres Guerra, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper. He testified that he observed the SUV speeding on I-35W and began to follow it, but the SUV was travelling so fast that he couldn’t catch up.
He followed the SUV as it blew through the red light, hitting the car carrying the women. He said it was immediately apparent that the women had been killed. He testified that the SUV was empty, that the driver’s side door was ajar, and that all other doors appeared to be closed.
Guerra’s testimony is expected to continue at 9 a.m. Friday.
Federal case, California crash off limits
Thompson was convicted in October 2024 on federal gun and drug possession charges for the same crash. Investigators found more than 2,000 fentanyl pills, 13 MDMA (ecstasy) pills, about 35 grams of cocaine and a loaded handgun with an extended magazine in his SUV, according to court documents.
He was convicted of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Carolina Lamas, who is presiding over Thompson’s state murder trial, ruled that prosecutors can say that Thompson’s DNA was found on items in the car, but can’t tell jurors about the drugs and gun.
Prosecutors are also prohibited from presenting evidence about Thompson’s conviction for a 2018 hit-and-run crash in California where he badly injured a pedestrian. Prosecutors had written in an appellate court document that the evidence plays a “critical impact” in proving the third-degree murder charges and showing a pattern of behavior.
