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A Minnesota judge on Thursday (October 21) resentenced Mohamed Noor, the Black former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing a 911 caller in 2017.
Noor was initially sentenced to 12 and half years behind bars, but the Minnesota Supreme Court tossed the third-degree murder charge last month, leaving the second-degree manslaughter as the highest charge left. The judge in the case handed down the maximum 57-month sentence for the charge.
The former officer was convicted of fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond on July 15, 2017 after she placed a call to 911 to report a possible sexual assault.
Noor could have received a few as 41 months behind bars, which would have led to his immediate release. Hennepin County Judge Kathryn Quaintance handed down the maximum sentence for second-degree manslaughter after acknowledging the danger Noor put others in that night.
"You did shoot across the nose of your partner. You did endanger a bicyclist and residents of a community of surrounding houses on a summer Saturday evening," the judge said. "These factors of endangering the public make your crime of manslaughter appropriate for high end of the guidelines."
With the new sentence and in accordance of state guidelines for good behavior, Noor could be released as early as mid-2022.
What This Could Mean For Derek Chauvin
Though the circumstances surrounding the fatal incidents are different, both Noor and Derek Chauvin were charged and convicted of third-degree murder.
Noor's charge was overturned after the high court ruled that the former cop didn't "act with a deprave mind, without regard for human life" leaving legal experts to speculate Chauvin could receive the same treatment.
"Chauvin will likely have his decision reversed because it is legally incompatible to say that someone is guilty of intentionally doing something and at the same time they're guilty of unintentionally doing something," Wilson Criminal Defense partner Andrew Wilson told Vice News last month.
However, in Chauvin's case, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill factored in aggravating factors that Chauvin acted with "particular cruelty" in the murder of George Floyd last May that will probably prevent the same sentence reduction in his case.
Chauvin has been working to build an appeals case, retaining the services of a Minneapolis-based legal firm just this week, according to KSTP.
But Chauvin still has federal charges to deal with along with the other three officers who participated in Floyd's fatal arrest. Chauvin also has another brutality case stemming for the 2017 arrest of a Black 14-year-old.
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