(MN) Supreme Court overturns third-degree murder conviction against Mohamed Noor

[question everything]

Source: StarTribune

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the third-degree murder conviction against former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. The decision stunningly rejected a February ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals that upheld the count against Noor, who is serving 12 1/2 years in prison for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017. Jurors convicted Noor in 2019 of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for shooting Damond while responding to her 911 call about a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.

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Plunkett asked the state Supreme Court to make sense of language in the state's third-degree murder statute, which has perplexed attorneys for years and came into play earlier this year when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried for the unrelated killing of George Floyd. Jurors convicted Chauvin on April 20 of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Plunkett asked the state Supreme Court to address two questions: Can a person be convicted of third-degree murder if the deadly act is aimed at a single person, and can the reckless nature of an act alone establish the necessary depraved mind-set?

According to state statute, third-degree murder applies when a defendant kills someone "by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind." The word "others" has led many attorneys to interpret that the statute applies when multiple people are endangered and someone is killed. Veteran attorneys have said it would apply, for instance, to someone shooting indiscriminately into a moving train. The "depraved mind" element has been difficult to define, some attorneys have said.


Read more: https://www.startribune.com/supreme-court-overturns-third-degree-murder-conviction-against-ex-minneapolis-police-officer-mohamed/600097386/

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Full headline:

Supreme Court overturns third-degree murder conviction against ex-Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor

This is a breaking news, no further details are available as of... what next

[sarisataka]

1. This could open a can of worms

However Chauvin was also convicted of second-degree murder so will likely not change his sentence.

[Ocelot II]

3. True, but I'm wondering whether this decision might result in an argument on appeal

that the third-degree murder charge also affected the jury's decision. Looks like Judge Cahill was right in the first instance when he threw out the third-degree charge. I expect it will make a difference as to the remaining three officers who haven't been tried yet.

[sarisataka]

4. If I were his lawyer

I would be drawing up the appeal right now.

I understand why they fought to add it but it would have been better to leave the charge off. It would be a disaster if a full retrial was granted.

[Ocelot II]

5. Yup. I sure hope he doesn't have to be retried with the 3rd degree charge left out.

I think the ultimate result would be the same but nobody wants to go through that again.

[IronLionZion]

2. Time to update some of these statutes

so the justice system can have some clarity. There shouldn't be this much confusion over what to charge a murderer with, cop or not.

[ret5hd]

6. Let's make it clear:

Civilian: Submit or die...and sometimes maybe submit AND die.

Cop: Fire at will.

[Amishman]

7. Really hoping this doesn't help Chauvin

His 3rd degree murder conviction was based on a similar interpretation of that statute.

[Ocelot II]

8. But he was sentenced on the more serious offense of second-degree felony murder.

If I were his lawyer, though, I'd argue in his appeal that the fact that the jury had to consider the third-degree charge was unduly prejudicial and that he should get a new trial without that count. However, the second-degree felony murder conviction was based on the jury's finding that he killed Floyd unintentionally while committing a different felony, aggravated assault, which doesn't require the same proof as the third-degree murder charge. So the prosecution's argument would be that the result of a new trial would be just the same.