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Verdict is in for Minneapolis cop who killed Austrailian Woman who called 911


TexasHooch

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Guilty of 3rd Degree Murder and Manslaughter.  None of the "hold the police responsible" crowd seem to be particularly happy about it though.  Perception (narrative) is that cops are only held responsible when they're black and the victim is white.  Interesting dynamic.

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The reason why many of that group aren't pleased is because the cop that killed Philando Castille walked, and that one was just as bad if not worse than this. I will say that when the jury came back after only 9 hours of deliberation, I thought for sure Noor was walking. 

Q&A with one of the jurors:

https://www.kare11.com/amp/article?section=news&subsection=local&headline=juror-speaks-about-mohamed-noor-verdict&contentId=89-7b28d527-5a0e-4024-b2b4-68921e7c579c&__twitter_impression=true

 

The biggest takeaway from the trial for me is that Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman didn't convene a grand jury to make this go away. It's because no one on the MPD force would talk to his investigators, and the grand jury was needed to compel testimony. 

@LouRaguse from KARE 11 on Twitter has done a hell of a job on covering this trial. 

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star tribune article here

http://www.startribune.com/mohamed-noor-guilty-murder-manslaughter-fatal-shooting-justine-ruszczyk-damond-minneapolis-police/509224642/

Quote

Mohamed Noor guilty of third-degree murder, manslaughter in killing of Justine Ruszczyk Damond

Justine's fiance and father urged city leaders to continue implementing systemic change to the police department. 
By Chao Xiong Star Tribune
 
MAY 1, 2019 — 6:40AM
 

Mohamed Noor became the first former Minnesota police officer found guilty of an on-duty murder Tuesday as a Hennepin County jury convicted him for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017.

Jurors reached their verdict after about 10 hours of sequestered deliberations in a case that was closely watched nationwide and in Damond’s native Australia. They convicted Noor of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter but acquitted him of the most serious count — second-degree murder.

Noor, 33, sat expressionless with his hands clasped in front of him as the verdict was read in court just before 5 p.m. One juror hung his head while others sat calmly.

Noor stood from his attorneys’ table, was handcuffed and taken into custody after jurors were dismissed, leaving without looking at his family in the gallery, his shackled wrists brushing against the back of his dark-colored suit. He will remain in custody until his sentencing, scheduled for June 7.

Damond’s fiancé, Don Damond, dabbed a tissue to his eyes as the verdict was read. He and Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, later joined Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman for a news conference in which Don Damond castigated police for his fiancée’s death and the initial handling of the investigation.

“Ironically, the Minneapolis Police Department emblem on the squad door reads, ‘To protect with courage and to serve with compassion,’ ” Don Damond said. “… But that night there was a tragic lapse of care and complete disregard for the sanctity of life. The evidence in this case clearly shows an egregious failure of the Minneapolis Police Department.”

John Ruszczyk accused some Minneapolis police of “active resistance” to the investigation and said Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators showed “gross incompetence.”

The jury of two women and 10 men began their deliberations Monday afternoon after three weeks of contentious and conflicting testimony and hundreds of pieces of evidence including graphic police body-camera footage of the shooting’s aftermath in a south Minneapolis alley.

Noor and his partner, Matthew Harrity, were responding to Damond’s 911 call on July 15, 2017, about a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home when Noor fired from the passenger seat and through Harrity’s open driver’s-side window. Damond was struck in the abdomen and died at the scene.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Noor violated his training and national police standards when he shot Damond instead of identifying her first and addressing her verbally. Defense attorneys said Noor relied on common police training to eliminate a threat when she appeared next to his squad car in the middle of the night and raised her arm in a fashion that he interpreted as an ambush.

Don Damond and John Ruszczyk urged Minneapolis leaders to continue implementing systemic change to the department.

“I implore Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo to do everything they can to ensure these essential human values are not just words on a car door,” Don Damond said, “but are lived values of every person in a police department who need a complete transformation of policing in Minneapolis and around the country.”

Both men, along with Justine Damond’s brother, sister-in-law and stepmother, were fixtures throughout the trial, sitting in the front row of the public gallery next to Noor’s wife and parents.

“The jury’s decision reflects the community’s commitment to three important pillars of a civil society: the rule of law, the respect for the sanctity of life and the obligation of the police force to serve and protect,” John Ruszczyk said. “We believe this guilty verdict strengthens those pillars. We hope this will be a catalyst for further change.”

Neither family reacted overtly to the verdict, although Damond’s sister-in-law hugged Don Damond as jurors were polled individually. Noor’s mother and wife leaned forward in their chairs in anticipation through the proceeding.

Noor’s attorneys and family left without comment. Before the verdict, his father, Mohamed Abass, didn’t appear hopeful.

“We’re Muslims,” he said. “We will accept any outcome.”

Noor’s cousin, Goth Ali, who attended the trial every day, broke down after hearing the verdict.

“I’m crying because of how the case was handled,” the 32-year-old said afterward. “What happened was injustice. This is shocking. My cousin didn’t get a fair trial.”

Noor, who was fired from the department after the shooting, is the second officer in recent Minnesota history to be charged with an on-duty fatal shooting. St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted in 2017 in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile during a 2016 traffic stop.

The prosecution’s sprawling case against Noor raised alarming questions about Minneapolis police conduct and the BCA. Assistant Hennepin County attorneys Amy Sweasy and Patrick Lofton crafted a picture of police secrecy from the shooting’s immediate aftermath to trial, showing that several officers turned off their body cameras at the scene, accusing a key supervisor of inventing the story that Noor and Harrity heard a loud noise on their squad before the shooting, and calling out dozens of officers for refusing to speak with investigators until compelled by a grand jury.

Despite his office’s attack on the credibility of several Minneapolis police officers and the BCA, Freeman defended every previous police shooting investigation his office has reviewed — and cleared of criminal wrongdoing — as “superb.” Freeman said “initially” there were mistakes, but his office raised concerns that were rectified. “I’m pleased to report that both [Minneapolis police] and BCA have done an exemplary job” in other cases, he said.

Freeman said the presumptive sentence for the third-degree murder conviction is 12½ years, and the manslaughter conviction four years. They likely will be served concurrently, he said.

Noor’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, told jurors in his closing arguments that the “bad investigation” should raise reasonable doubt.

Don Damond ended his statement by thanking prosecutors, investigators and community members who supported him and Justine’s family.

“We’ve not walked this path alone,” he said. “This case is about Justine, and Justine lived to teach us about love. She lived to teach us about our own human potential. She taught us to live joyfully. She taught us to laugh, and she demonstrated what it means to live from the heart.”

“She was a living example of compassion. In her life she committed to transform humanity, and her legacy is continuing that work today.”

Staff writers Libor Jany, Faiza Mahamud, Rochelle Olson and Randy Furst contributed to this report.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

This is a good thing for sure.

But if you don't think the "black cop white victim" dynamic contributes, I'm not sure what to say.  There's no way a white lady cop who shot and killed a black guy gets convicted.

It is a good thing.

Of course the "black (muslim) cop, white victim" dynamic contributes.  Upon some reflection, it's not the "cops are only held responsible when they're black and the victim is white" narrative that bothers me, because there's that needs to be considered.  What I find perplexing is this narrative:

 

Noor was guilty of Manslaughter (Not Murder IMO).  It's ok to accept this and still be upset about injustices in prior cases.  He didn't get railroaded because he's black.

Quote

The reason why many of that group aren't pleased is because the cop that killed Philando Castille walked, and that one was just as bad if not worse than this.

I was shocked when Yanez walked.  He should have been convicted, and I believe that if Castille was white he wouldn't have been shot in the first place.  

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Yeah, anyone thinking he got railroaded here is full of shit.  He deserved this outcome.  His skin color is probably the main reason he was actually convicted, but just because white cops routinely literally get away with murder doesn't mean it should happen.

As you stated, you can acknowledge that his race was the main reason for the conviction without saying that the conviction was wrongful - because it wasn't.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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I don't understand how the superiors do not get any blame in issues like this. You know if a guy or gal is competent or not. It's the same as that idiot in Dallas, how mentally unstable do you have to be to make a "mistake" like that. 

Both of these cases the person who handed them the gun and badge needs to be put under just as much scrutiny.

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The MPD Police Chief was forced to resign shortly after the Noor shooting.  Additionally, there has been a lot of scrutiny Re: Noor's hiring and training, specifically related to claims that his unfitness to serve was ignored due to the department's desire to have a Somali Officer.

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"White cops murder unarmed Blacks daily."

That is so far from the truth. Why blatantly lie about this?

From this LINK

The incidents that drive the protests and organization of Black Lives Matter are largely focused on the police use of lethal force on unarmed blacks. Figure 2 below, shows the cumulative number of unarmed Blacks (no weapon of any kind) killed by police from 2015 through half of 2018. While the number of unarmed Blacks killed by police dropped by half between 2015 and 2016, from 38 to 17, in 2017 and the trend so far in 2018 shows no sign of further decline. While lacking data-backed statistical analysis, it is no stretch to imagine that the Black Lives Matters protests contributed to the decline. The impact of protests likely drove police departments (in locales of protest or distant police departments wanting to avoid the same lethal errors) to adopt new policies seek out new training, or more widely distribute less lethal tools like Tasers.

Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-11.40.30-AM.pn

 

These numbers are unacceptable and the problem is real, but EVERY DAY? I don't understand the need to lie.

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  • 4 weeks later...

New Body Cam Shows Cops Trying to Cover for Fellow Cop who Murdered Justine Damond

 

Minneapolis, MN — New details are emerging about the tragic shooting of JustineDamond, an Australian yoga teacher and spiritual healer, by Officer Mohamed Noor. On April 30, Noor was convicted for murder and manslaughter in Damond’s death. And now, evidence from the trial — in the form of body camera footage and 911 recordings — is being released.

On that fateful night, officer Noor was sitting in the passenger seat of his patrol car and opened fire through the driver’s side door hitting Damond at least once in the abdomen. Noor and his partner were responding to her 911 call about a possible sexual assault.

Conveniently, for Noor and his partner, it was revealed at the time that neither of them had activated their body cameras. The dashcam, we were told, was not recording any video footage either.

Now, however, with the release of this new evidence, we see that the entire department has a problem with turning off their body cameras, especially when talking to killer cops who gun down innocent women in their pajamas.

As the Star Tribune reports:

PROSECUTORS RAISED THE SPECTER OF POLICE SECRECY AT TRIAL, NOTING THAT SEVERAL OFFICERS AT THE SCENE ONLY SPOKE TO INVESTIGATORS AFTER THEY WERE SUBPOENAED TO APPEAR BEFORE A GRAND JURY. THEY ALSO SCRUTINIZED BODY CAMERA USE, AND THE VIDEO EVIDENCE SHOWED REPEATED CONCERN AT THE SCENE FOR NOOR AND HIS RIGHT TO NOT SPEAK ABOUT THE SHOOTING, EVEN WHILE EFFORTS CONTINUED TO SAVE DAMOND.

“It sounds like sex noises, but it’s been going on for a while and I think I just heard, ‘Help.’ And it sounds distressed,” Damond told the dispatcher on the original 911 call. She then called back a few minutes later to see where the officers were. Five more minutes would pass before Damond’s 911 call would be her death sentence.

When Damond walked out to talk to the officers, Noor shot and killed her.

Since 2016, Minneapolis has required all officers to wear and activate body cameras “at all times when they could reasonably anticipate that they may become involved in a situation for which activation is appropriate,” as noted by HuffPo.

But these officers conveniently managed to turn off both of their body cameras and the dashcam before entering the alleyway in response to Damond’s call about an alleged sexual assault taking place behind her home.

What’s more, nearly every officer on the scene whose body cameras were actually working, either turned it off or were caught helping Noor, advising him to stay quiet.

Imagine for a moment that a regular civilian had just shot and killed an innocent woman, would they receive this same treatment as witnessed below?

When officers arrived at the scene they were responding to a “shots fired” call, so they began looking for a suspect. However, once they realized there was no suspect and the cop shot an innocent woman in her pajamas, they immediately began coaching Noor and turning off their body cameras.

When Officer Jesse Lopez arrives on the scene, he tells a visibly distraught Noor, “You all right, kiddo? Just keep to yourself. Keep your mouth shut until you have to say anything to anybody.” He then puts him in a vehicle and drives him away from the scene.

In one video, officer Joseph Grout is heard telling someone his body camera is recording: “I’m hot right now. I don’t know if we’re s’posed to be or not.”

Then, even more disturbing is the fact that when Noor’s supervisor, Sgt. Shannon Barnette showed up and Justine Damond was dying in the street, Barnette called Damond’s phone.

“Hey Justine, this is Sgt. Barnette, Minneapolis police,” she said. “Say I know you called in the unknown trouble call of a woman screaming and I have a question for you, it’s pretty important.”

Prosecutors also brought up damning evidence against Barnette at the trial. According to KARE 11, Barnette admitted in testimony that she did not mean to record the below video. Her body camera captured it, without sound, because the cameras include a 30-second cache prior to pushing the button.

Prosecutors say Noor is demonstrating to Barnette how he fired the shot.

“Did you find out the direction he shot?” someone asked Barnette. “He was in the car,” she replied.

But on the witness stand, as KARE reports, Barnette said Noor never told her anything about the shooting, even though under MPD policy she was supposed to ask a couple of basic questions, like the direction of the shot.

Barnette is also captured on her own body camera turning it off and on.

“The blue wall of silence is alive and well,” Lawyer Bob Bennett, who negotiated a $20 million settlement for Damond’s family, said of the content of the videos. “Who were they protecting and serving?”

Joseph Daly, an emeritus professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, had a similar view about the impact of the body-camera videos, according to the Star Tribune.

“I think the public is going to see a conspiracy of silence,” said Daly. “The public’s going to look at this and say, ‘Is this what police officers do all of the time when they get in trouble? They tell them to keep their mouth shut?’ ”

We agree.

 

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/justine-damond-evidence-body-camera/?fbclid=IwAR0E5kZEPFvqM3VMTT03gWz09KT2CfE-tWvi69rbZkXu6yoEci4dcQb6BQc

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Guest Lobo

Well, this does shoot a hole in my theory that body cams seem to always be in a state of software upgrade anytime someone darker than Jim Gaffigan is near the officer.  Because I’m guessing this Australian woman was quite obviously white.  

Can we at least have a takeaway from all this unnecessary loss of life—-if your department can’t teach people an on/off switch, you don’t get to have tanks or helicopters? 

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Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor is facing another lawsuit, this time by a Minneapolis man who accuses Noor and a second Minneapolis officer of wrongfully pulling him over and pointing their guns at him.

The suit, the third filed against Noor, accuses the Minneapolis Police Department of risking public safety by keeping Noor on the force despite a 2015 psychological report that found the former officer “may be incompatible with public safety requirements for good interpersonal functioning.”

That revelation came to light during the lead up to Noor’s trial for the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in July 2017. Last month, a jury found Noor guilty of murder and manslaughter. Her family filed suit against Noor and the city of Minneapolis, which agreed to pay a $20 million settlement.

In the latest lawsuit, Brian Oman said he was driving on May 18, 2017 in south Minneapolis when he got stuck in an intersection at a red light as he was trying to pass a bicyclist.

That got the attention of Noor and another officer with him at the time, Justin Schmidt, who pulled Oman over, according to the complaint filed earlier this month in Hennepin County District Court.

Video and audio evidence in Mohamed Noor trial is released

After stopping his car, Oman said he saw Noor and Schmidt get out of their squads, draw their guns and approach him from behind. Oman accuses Noor of pointing his gun about 12-18 inches away from him for about 30 seconds; Schmidt had his gun out for about 90 seconds, Oman alleges.

“Mr. Oman did not engage in any conduct or behavior during the incident justifying [Noor’s and Schmidt’s] use/drawing/pointing of their firearms,” Oman says in his complaint.

The officers issued Oman a citation for failure to signal and obey a traffic control device, which was later dismissed.

Attorneys for the city said that the officers drew their firearms during their stop but denied that it was illegal or unwarranted.

Schmidt was one of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Thurman Blevins in June 2018. The officers were cleared in the shooting. At least six complaints have been filed against Schmidt. The office of police conduct review was cleared him in five of the cases, while another is still open.

In the first lawsuit filed against Noor, Minneapolis resident Teresa Graham accused the former officer and two others of forcibly taking her from home and to an emergency room for a mental health evaluation. A federal judge last year dismissed Noor and the other officers from the suit, but said the MPD’s policy on mental health holds was unconstitutional. The case is headed toward trial, but a date has not yet been set.

The suit accuses Noor and the officers of removing Graham from her home on May 20, 2017, two days after Oman accuses Noor of pointing a gun at him, and just weeks before Noor shot and killed Ruszczyk Damond.

 

http://m.startribune.com/lawsuit-accuses-ex-officer-noor-of-needlessly-pointing-gun-during-traffic-stop/510345322/?fbclid=IwAR03kxNCq2UhK1n65MJ13KopP_gFGZnoCP0jYkr66zkLyL_cqXEb-EGwNYs

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Changing culture is hard, especially hard when the people in charge and the subordinates are against said change. It is impossible when these same people hold the power of the law. 

Police are to protect and serve, not administer justice. Protect the people, even the bad ones from themselves. You are not keeping the wolf from the door. You are not the last line of defense. You are not in the military. You are here to keep the peace, break up disturbances, de-escalate situations, and safely stop law breakers and bring them before a judge. That’s it. If your entire outlook is to enforce the law and not take care of your fellow man, then it’s just perpetuating the problem. 

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50 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Changing culture is hard, especially hard when the people in charge and the subordinates are against said change. It is impossible when these same people hold the power of the law. 

Police are to protect and serve, not administer justice. Protect the people, even the bad ones from themselves. You are not keeping the wolf from the door. You are not the last line of defense. You are not in the military. You are here to keep the peace, break up disturbances, de-escalate situations, and safely stop law breakers and bring them before a judge. That’s it. If your entire outlook is to enforce the law and not take care of your fellow man, then it’s just perpetuating the problem. 

2%er

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