MINNEAPOLIS _ Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
He was acquitted of second-degree murder.
Noor sat expressionless with his hands clasped in front of him as the verdict was read, while the jurors remained calm, although one hung his head. Noor was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody. Sentencing is scheduled for June 7.
Noor faces between 10-15 years in prison for the third-degree murder charge and 3 { to nearly five years for the manslaughter charge.
A jury of two women and 10 men began deliberations Monday after hearing three weeks of testimony and announced the verdict Tuesday afternoon after about 11 hours of deliberation.
Noor, 33, was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the July 15, 2017 killing of Damond.
Noor and his partner, Matthew Harrity, were responding to Damond's 911 call about a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home. Noor and Harrity both testified that a loud sound on their squad car startled them, and that Noor fired from the passenger seat through Harrity's open driver's side window about 11:40 p.m.
Noor testified that upon hearing the sound, Harrity yelled out in fear, struggled to unholster his gun and looked at him with fear in his eyes. Noor told the court that the startling sound, his typically calm partner's reaction and a figure raising a right arm at Harrity's window caused him to fear that they were being ambushed.
Prosecutors argued that Noor acted unreasonably when he fired, and was too quick to assume that Damond was a threat. Noor and Harrity should have considered whether Damond was the 911 caller, the subject of Damond's 911 call or a woman from a previous 911 call placed earlier in the night by a neighbor, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors leveraged Harrity's reaction against Noor. While Harrity testified that he was spooked by the noise and the sight of a silhouette at his window, he also acknowledged that he had been unable to see Damond's hands and that it was premature to use deadly force based on the information he had at the time.
Noor 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 for fatally shooting Philando Castile during a 2016 traffic stop.
