Jury deliberates in US police shooting of Australian woman
Mohamed Noor, 33, last week told the court he shot Justine Damond to protect his partner
PHOTO: FILE
MINNEAPOLIS:
Jurors began deliberating Monday in the murder trial of a US former police officer who gunned down an Australian woman in 2017 in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis.
Mohamed Noor, 33, last week told the court he shot Justine Damond to protect his partner. He faces up to 40 years in prison if jurors reject his defense and decide the shooting was murder or manslaughter.
The former policeman targeted Damond, 40, from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity.
The victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred.
In court, prosecutor Amy Sweasy said Noor violated Minneapolis police training policies -- and endangered the life of his partner and a teenage cyclist also present.
She dismissed speculation that Damond contributed to her own death.
White US cop found guilty of murder in death of black teen
"He pulled (the gun). He pointed, he aimed, and he killed her," Sweasy said. "This is no accident. This is intentional murder," she said.
Noor previously testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity's "reaction to the person on the driver's side raising her right arm."
Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser's passenger seat and shot Damond through the driver's side window, it was because he thought his partner "would have been killed."
He said that after Damond approached the cruiser, his partner screamed "Oh, Jesus!" and began fumbling to unholster his gun.
Then, Noor said he saw a blonde woman wearing a pink T-shirt raising her right arm at the driver's window, identified her as a threat and fired.
Sweasy, however, suggested that the officers should not have been surprised by a woman walking to their car, given that the 911 caller reporting the possible sexual assault was a woman.
str/ska/ft
Jurors began deliberating Monday in the murder trial of a US former police officer who gunned down an Australian woman in 2017 in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis.
Mohamed Noor, 33, last week told the court he shot Justine Damond to protect his partner. He faces up to 40 years in prison if jurors reject his defense and decide the shooting was murder or manslaughter.
The former policeman targeted Damond, 40, from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity.
The victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred.
In court, prosecutor Amy Sweasy said Noor violated Minneapolis police training policies -- and endangered the life of his partner and a teenage cyclist also present.
She dismissed speculation that Damond contributed to her own death.
White US cop found guilty of murder in death of black teen
"He pulled (the gun). He pointed, he aimed, and he killed her," Sweasy said. "This is no accident. This is intentional murder," she said.
Noor previously testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity's "reaction to the person on the driver's side raising her right arm."
Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser's passenger seat and shot Damond through the driver's side window, it was because he thought his partner "would have been killed."
He said that after Damond approached the cruiser, his partner screamed "Oh, Jesus!" and began fumbling to unholster his gun.
Then, Noor said he saw a blonde woman wearing a pink T-shirt raising her right arm at the driver's window, identified her as a threat and fired.
Sweasy, however, suggested that the officers should not have been surprised by a woman walking to their car, given that the 911 caller reporting the possible sexual assault was a woman.
str/ska/ft