U.S. prosecutors reject officer's self-defense claim in Justine Damond murder trial
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Minnesota prosecutors on Tuesday rejected a former police officer’s claim that he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Australian national Justine Ruszczyk Damond, saying the woman’s call to report a crime resulted in her murder by police.
Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, 33, is accused of shooting and killing 40-year-old Damond through his patrol car window while responding to her 911 call to report a possible sexual assault near her Minneapolis home in July 2017.
“‘I’m dying.’ Those were Justine Ruszczyk’s last words,” prosecutor Patrick Lofton told a Hennepin County District Court jury in his opening statements.
Attorneys for Noor are expected to argue later on Tuesday that the officer was responding to a perceived deadly threat after he and his partner heard an unexplained loud noise and Damond approached their car. Prosecutors said Damond’s body was found too far from the car for her to have posed a threat.
Lofton added that neither Noor nor his partner, Matthew Harrity, mentioned a loud noise on the night of the crime, calling into question whether they later invented that version of the story.
“None of them heard anyone say anything about a bump or slap on that squad,” Lofton said.
The shooting, which Australia’s then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called “shocking” and “inexplicable,” added to a wave of controversial U.S. police killings of unarmed civilians, and led to the resignation of Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau.
Noor has pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, which carry respective penalties of up to 25 and 10 years in prison.
City officials have said Noor violated procedures and Damond “didn’t have to die.”
Damond had taken the name of her fiance, Don Damond, ahead of their wedding planned for August 2017. She owned a meditation and life-coaching company, according to her personal website.
Her family filed a civil lawsuit against the city and several police officers last month seeking $50 million in damages. It accuses Noor and Harrity of conspiring to conceal the facts around the shooting and failing to record the incident on their body cameras.
Reporting by Joey Peters in Minneapolis, writing by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Scott Malone and Bernadette Baum
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