Black Minneapolis Cop Re-sentenced to under 5 years after Reversal of Murder Conviction for Killing of White Woman

From [HERE] A former Minneapolis police officer whose murder conviction for the 2017 killing of an Australian woman was recently overturned was resentenced Thursday to a 57-month term in prison, the maximum for his remaining second-degree manslaughter conviction. 

The decision by Hennepin County judge Kathryn Quaintance replaces Mohamed Noor’s earlier sentence of 12 years and 6 months for third-degree murder in the death of Justine Ruszczyck Damond, whom he shot after she called 911 to report a suspected sexual assault. 

Noor's third-degree murder conviction was overturned in September,  when the Minnesota Supreme Court determined that third-degree murder must involve dangerous conduct that endangers people other than the person killed. 

Prosecutors and members of Damond’s family pushed for the maximum sentence at Thursday's hearing, arguing that Noor’s position as a police officer made it particularly egregious. 

“By every measure, the facts of this case, what the jury heard… are worse than typical,” prosecutor Amy Sweazy said. “[Damond] followed through with her end of the deal. She called 911-- a second time. She went out to greet the police.” For that, Sweazy said, she was shot. 

The reversal of the murder conviction, the prosecutor argued, “doesn’t change the fact that this jury found that what Mr. Noor did was worse than second-degree manslaughter.” 

Noor’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, pointed to his client's status as a model prisoner and the difficulty of being incarcerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are here for sentencing in a different time,” Plunkett said. “Mr. Noor’s time in incarceration has been harder than anyone could have imagined before the pandemic.”