MINNEAPOLIS — A judge scheduled to resentence former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor on Thursday morning for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond will be asked to pick between to disparate requests — 10 years in prison or release from incarceration.
Noor, who turned 36 Wednesday, is being resentenced at 9 a.m. on a lower count — second-degree manslaughter — after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in September to overturn his third-degree murder conviction. The decision vacated a prison term of 12 1/2 years Noor was already serving on the murder count.
Second-degree manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but state sentencing guidelines recommend a term between about 3 1/3 and 4 3/4 years in prison for defendants with no criminal history, such as Noor. The presumptive term is four years, according to the guidelines.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office has said it will request the maximum prison term.
Noor's attorneys, Thomas Plunkett and Peter Wold, filed a memorandum last week asking Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance to sentence him to a term of about 3 1/3 years. They requested the lower end of the sentencing guidelines range, citing "unexpected and particularly harsh conditions of [Noor's] incarceration as well as his post-sentencing conduct."
Plunkett and Wold also asked the judge to give Noor credit for time he's already served in prison and to place him on supervised release, which typically requires regular check-ins with the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), regular drug and alcohol testing, and restrictions on certain activities. It can also include electronic home monitoring. Violations of such terms can result in a defendant being sent back to prison.
Defendants in Minnesota must serve 2/3 of their prison term before becoming eligible for supervised release.
Mitchell Hamline School of Law professor emeritus Joe Daly said if Quaintance granted the defense's request, Noor would not be allowed to walk out of the courtroom. Noor would be transported back to prison to fill out paperwork and could be released from prison later the same day, said Daly, who predicted that the judge would would sentence Noor to four or more years in prison instead of releasing him.
Jurors convicted Noor in April 2019 of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for shooting Damond in 2017 while responding to her 911 call about a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home.
He entered prison on May 2, 2019 and was first sentenced in June 2019. He originally served his time in administrative segregation at Oak Park Heights prison in Minnesota, but was transferred on July 11, 2019 to facility in North Dakota for his own safety.
"Mr. Noor has shown to be a model prisoner," Plunkett and Wold wrote. "He has spent his time giving back to the community he has found himself in, to the extent he is able to, given the pandemic restrictions. Mr. Noor has demonstrated that he is ready to return to 'normal' society and will continue assisting those in need around him. Continuing to keep Mr. Noor imprisoned would be unnecessary if the goal of this Court is reformative justice."
Noor worked as a janitor in prison before becoming a clerk who helps admit new arrivals, his attorneys wrote. He also has attended or led religious services while incarcerated.
Noor's attorneys appealed the murder count, which was upheld in February by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. They then asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to review that decision.
The high court agreed with Noor's attorneys that because of how the statute is written, the murder count cannot apply when a defendant's actions are directed at a specific person. The state Supreme Court vacated Noor's conviction and sentence, and sent his case back to court for resentencing.
Damond's fiancé, Don Damond, issued a written statement last month in reaction to the state Supreme Court's decision, saying he and his family were "deeply saddened" by the ruling.
"In many ways, this has felt like a double blow against justice," Damond said. "My hope and work since Justine's death has been to try to prevent a further loss of life at the hands of stressed and inadequately trained police officers.
"The Minneapolis Police Department has not made any meaningful progress toward transformation. And now Noor is not being held accountable for killing my fiancé, an innocent person who called police from our home to report a female in distress. I have lived with the tragic loss of Justine and none of this can hurt my heart more than it has been, but now it truly feels like there has been no justice for Justine."
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