Minnesota court vacates ex-cop Mohamed Noor’s 3rd-degree murder conviction

By Omar Jimenez and Brad Parks, CNN

Minnesota’s highest court on Wednesday vacated former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor third-degree murder conviction for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk while responding to her 911.

The court said there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction and ordered that he be sentenced on his conviction for second-degree manslaughter.

This ruling supersedes a previous appeals court decision in February against Noor that opened the door to reinstating a third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in April on state murder charges in George Floyd’s death.

Noor was sentenced in June 2019 to 12½ years in prison.

The 33-year-old Somali American was convicted in April of that year on charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2017 death of Ruszczyk, who had relocated from her native Australia to Minneapolis to live with her fiancé.

CNN has sought comment from the attorneys of Mohammed Noor and Justine Ruszczyk and from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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