Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor received a new sentence Thursday of nearly five years, the maximum allowed, for his manslaughter conviction in the 2017 shooting of Justine Damond.
Mohamed Noor gets nearly 5 years in killing of Justine Ruszczyk Damond https://t.co/w9ymwqFP9t pic.twitter.com/tlvQv0o1vh
— Pioneer Press (@PioneerPress) October 21, 2021
Noor’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, argued that his client should be released because he’s served his time and was a model prisoner. He asked the judge to grant the 36-year-old credit for time already served in prison and place him on supervised release, which typically requires check-ins with the Department of Corrections, regular drug and alcohol testing, and restrictions on certain activities.
Noor was only re-sentenced on second-degree manslaughter because, as PJ Media reported last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court discarded his third-degree murder conviction, vacating a prison term of over 12 years.
Noor has served 30 months since he entered jail in May 2019. With credit for time served, he is scheduled for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence, meaning he his term will conclude in May 2022.
The victim’s husband, Don Damond, said the Supreme Court’s decision “Does not diminish the truth. The truth is that Justine should be alive.”
But he also directed his comments via video toward Noor, requesting, “I want you to know that I forgive you. All I ask is that you use this experience to do good for other people. Be an example of how to transform beyond adversity. Be an example of honesty and contrition. This is what Justine would want.”
Noor said, “I will take his advice and be a unifier” and added he was “deeply grateful” for Damond’s forgiveness and “deeply sorry” for the family’s loss.
The state’s first Somali-American cop was originally convicted and sentenced in June 2019 , two years after he responded to Damond’s 9-11 call about an alleged sexual assault near her home.
In a case that gained international attention, Damond, an Australian native, frantically approached the police vehicle as it arrived on the scene and was shot in the abdomen by Noor. Seated in the passenger seat, he thought her approach was a potential ambush.
The City of Minneapolis awarded Damond’s family $20 million two years ago.
Source: PJ Media
