At the Noor trial

[Valin]

Power Line

Scott Johnson

Apr. 6 2019

I spent Thursday and Friday at the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor for the 2015 murder of Justine Rusczczyk. Both days were devoted mostly to jury selection. Yesterday afternoon, however, Judge Kathryn Quaintance (“KQ,” as her colleagues on the bench refer to her) held a hearing on the Media Coalition’s objection to her order suppressing part of the bodycam footage that will be admitted into evidence early next week.

Let me repeat that for emphasis. Judge Quaintance has ordered the footage to be suppressed from public viewing even though it will be admitted into evidence. I don’t think the judge can do that. The hearing concluded yesterday’s proceedings. I will write about the hearing in a separate post. At this point, in the interest of brevity, I want to offer these 10 personal notes, observations, impressions.

1. Noor has two excellent attorneys representing him, Thomas Plunkett and my law school classmate Peter Wold. Plunkett has dominated jury selection so far. Peter took the baton from Plunkett to participate yesterday. You cannot dislike Peter. He is extremely personable.

2. In Minnesota state court, attorneys are afforded the opportunity to conduct voir dire themselves. Good attorneys use voir dire to preview their themes, try to plant a favorable interpretation of the case, and to develop a friendly relationship with jurors while doing so. This is not how they do things in federal court.

3. Plunkett has used voir dire effectively. His themes include job qualifications and training, testing and certification, handling conflict on the job and “escalation in the blink of an eye,” work with partners on the job and their reliance on each other. There was more, but you get the gist. If you are familiar with the facts of the case, I think you can see where the defense is going.

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[Valin]

At the Noor trial (2)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 7 2019

The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor continues this week with the completion of jury selection and the attorneys’ opening statements tomorrow. Noor is charged with third degree murder and second degree manslaughter in the killing of Justine Ruszczyk (known as Justine Damond) in July 2017. Ms. Ruszczyk had called 911 to seek police intervention in what she feared might be a rape occurring in the alley behind her home. As events unfolded in nightmare fashion, Ms. Ruszczyk was shot and killed by Noor as his partner drove down the alley before midnight on the evening of July 15.

The facts and charges are set forth in the criminal complaint posted here along with other documents filed in the case on the court’s Noor trial page here as well as the subsequently filed amended complaint. The case has been assigned to Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance. The State of Minnesota is represented at trial by Assistant Hennepin County Attorneys Amy Sweasy and Patrick Lofton. Noor is represented by Minneapolis attorneys Thomas Plunkett and Peter Wold. Plunkett dominated voir dire last week. Ms. Sweasy did not take a turn at bat until Friday, and then only briefly.

Several local media outlets including the Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, CBS Minnesota (WCCO TV, via CBS Broadcasting) and FOX 9 (via Fox/UTV Holdings) have banded together under the name of the Media Coalition to contest certain of Judge Quaintance’s orders affecting press coverage of the trial. Sweasy’s turn at voir dire was interrupted Friday afternoon for a hearing on the motion brought by the Media Coalition’s objection to her order suppressing part of the bodycam footage that will be admitted into evidence when the trial gets underway in earnest early next week.

 

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Judge Quaintance made a variety of assertions taking issue with Ms. Walker in the course of the hearing. This is the gist as I took them down in notes reflecting the judge’s own words:

The public has no right to unfettered access to the evidence. The public interest has to be balanced against the privacy interest of the victim.

While the judge is a total advocate of transparency, this is an issue of the right of the victim not to have her bare breast exposed to a bunch of strangers.

The judge wants to protect pictures of a woman naked and gasping for breath.

The public doesn’t need to see this evidence. It isn’t deciding the case.

The judge is not convinced that the the public has a legitimate interest in seeing this evidence.

The Media Coalition argument assumes that the press is a proxy for the public.

The judge’s ruling does not apply to a majority of the bodycam footage.

The judge’s primary concern is public influence of the jury that would result from the evidence being made public.

The thought of images of Ms. Ruszczyk’s demise being circulated is highly distasteful. It’s shocking.

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[Valin]

At the Noor trial (3)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 8 2019

The lawyers have completed voir dire and jury selection in the trial of Mohamed Noor. Judge Quaintance is seating a panel of 16 jurors (four are alternates). She excused the parties and jurors following the completion of jury selection this morning. The trial resumes with opening statements tomorrow morning.

Minnesota’s foremost organ of liberal opinion — I’m talking about the Star Tribune, of course — wants you to know that the jury consists of 12 men and four women, that six are people of color, and that four of them are immigrants (“[o]ne woman immigrated from Pakistan, one man immigrated from Ethiopia and two men moved to the United States from the Philippines”).

MPR reporter Jon Collins adds that the jury includes a “night manager at a grocery store, Mpls firefighter, railroad engineer, carpenter who writes on the side, ob/gyn, middle school librarian, immigration officer for Homeland Security, electric [f]oreman, investment consultant & retired computer analyst.”

I want you to know that this is a very Minneapolis jury, heavily weighted with true believers in the diversity mantra. Despite all the talk of “implicit bias” and all the rest in the organs of liberal opinion such as the Star Tribune, I think that Noor’s minority status will be an advantage to him in the defense of the case.

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One more note. I found Judge Quaintance’s behavior at the motion hearing to be unprofessional. She repeatedly made faces as the attorney representing the Media Coalition argued in support of her motion and responded to the judge’s comments. I take it that’s just how this judge rolls.

I am nevertheless offended by that as well as by what I view as the judge’s assertion of power beyond the bounds of her authority. If I am mistaken, however, and if I am persuaded by the written order she has yet to issue, I will acknowledge my mistake in a subsequent installment of this series.

[Valin]

At the Noor trial (6)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 9 2019

’m on my way to the courthouse this morning for opening statements in the trial of Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. In the opening statements the parties are to summarize the evidence they anticipate introducing at trial. They are not to argue their cases.

The beginning of the trial is highly anticipated. It comes nearly two years after Noor’s killing of Justine Ruszcyk (or Justine Damond, as she called herself). Justine’s fiancée, Don Damond, will certainly be one of the prosecution’s first witnesses.

Trial Judge Kathryn Quaintance has yet to file an order ruling on the motion of the Media Coalition for access to the bodycam video that will be admitted into evidence early in the case. All filings by the court and the parties are accessible on the court’s Noor trial page.

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[Valin]

At the Noor trial (6)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 10 2019

I attended the trial of Mohamed Noor yesterday. The parties made their opening statements and the prosecutors called their first witness — Don Damond, the fiancee of Justine Rusczyk (who called herself Damond in anticipation of her marriage to Don). Following up on my report from the lunch break in part 5 of this series, I want to note a few highlights and observations. For a coherent narrative account, plase see this MPR account by Jon Collins and Riham Feshir or this KARE 11 account by Lou Raguse or this Star Tribune account by Chao Xiong and Libor Jany. I also recommend the Twitter thread under Latest at #Noortrial.

This case is a nightmare wrapped inside a tragedy. It resonates with us because it stands at the intersection of the issues that roil us. The Minneapolis kakistocracy visible under the surface of the case represents the wave of the future. This is a decidedly Minneapolis jury that will decide the case.

Notes on opening statement: Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton:

• Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton gave the opening statement for the prosecution. His account of the events leading to Justine’s shooting by Noor disputed that Justine “thumped” the officers’ squad car in the alley behind her house. He characterized the “thump” essentially as an invention of the investigation itself. Even if Justine “thumped” the squad car, however, did that create a reasonable fear of death or bodily harm on the part of the officers?

• Noor’s partner, Matthew Harrity, was driving the squad car. He will be a crucial witness at trial. According to Lofton, he saw “a silhouette” to his left. He couldn’t tell what it was. He then heard “a pop” and saw a woman in her pajamas with hands cradling her abdomen. It turned out to be Justine. Harrity turned on his bodycam and tried to help Justine. Her last words were, “I’m dying.”

• Minneapolis police sergeant Jan Barnette turned up and took charge of the scene. Burnette asked Harrity what happened. “She came up out of nowhere,” Harrity said. “Noor pulled his gun out and fired.”

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[Valin]

At the Noor trial (7)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 11 2019

Prosecutors in the case of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor set about methodically introducing the evidence in support of their case yesterday. The best narrative of the events in court is Chao Xiong’s and Libor Jany’s Star Tribune article. See also Jon Collins and Riham Feshir’s MPR report. I want briefly to summarize what went down and note the highlight of the testimony in summary fashion. I continue to urge readers to check the #Noortrial hashtag on Twitter under Latest.

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• It’s a good thing I made it into the courtroom yesterday. The prosecution introduced audio clips of Justine’s 911 calls and, most importantly, photographic evidence of the crime scene after Justine’s killing (which would not be visible on the video set up on the overflow courtroom).

• The prosecutors called these witnesses: from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (the BCA)–Andrew DuBord (digital forensic examiner), from the City of Minneapolis–Scott Peterson (senior applications analyst in the IT Department), from the BCA–Special Agent Adam Castilleja, from the Hennepin County Office of Medical Examiner–Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Lorren Jackson, from the BCA–forensic scientist Joe Cooksley. These were all credible and impressive witnesses.

• The prosecution introduced more than 100 photographs of the crime scene through the BCA witnesses.

• In his opening statement defense counsel Peter Wold set the scene in the alley as a possible ambush of the officers. He made it sound like the alley was dark as a dungeon.

• I was astounded to learn that the alley is lit by streetlights. Justine was shot by Noor under a streetlight at the end of the alley. In his cross-examination of Adam Castilleja, defense counsel Tom Plunkett made the point that one couldn’t read a book by the light cast by the streetlight; the light is too dim. One could only recognize the face of someone you knew.

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[Valin]

At The Noor Trial 08)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 12 2019

I happily took the reserved Power Line seat for the first time yesterday at the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. If Wednesday’s testimony featured the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, as it mostly did, yesterday’s featured the Minneapolis Police Department. The prosecution introduced bodycam and squad car video of MPD officers who arrived at the scene.

For good narrative accounts of yesterday’s testimony and other evidence, please see the Star Tribune story by Chao Xiong and Libor Jany and the MPR report by Jon Collins and Riham Feshir.

Unfortunately, no video recorded what Noor had to say about the incident. Why? I don’t know. Indeed, Noor’s “escort officer” following the incident advised him in no uncertain terms not to say nuthin’. However, it’s not that he didn’t have some ‘splainin’ to do. As MPD homicide lieutenant Rick Zimmerman pungently testified regarding his reaction to the crime scene: “I didn’t see anything, and my first thought, frankly, was, ‘What the f%@#? Why isn’t there something here?’”

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One more point I should have made yesterday. Noor shot Justine in the abdomen on her left side. The bullet traveled from front to back and lodged next to her spine at L5-L6. As I think about that, Justine must have been standing near the driver’s side of the Harrity/Noor squad car at the time she was shot and facing it. For me. that makes the shooting even more difficult to understand.

The defense had yet to cross-examiner Officer Jesse Lopez at the end of the day yesterday. He is tied up this morning and will return for cross-examination out of order.

 

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I still maintain Noor was rushed through training and put on the street before he was ready, because he was Somali.

[Valin]

At The Noor Trial (9)

Scott Johnson

Apr. 13 2019

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Almost all the witnesses in this case will be called by the prosecution. The prosecution has listed more than ninety possible witnesses. It won’t call all of them; listing them preserves its rights to do so. Noor will make out his defense mostly from the prosecution’s witnesses. That’s just the way it goes in criminal cases.

Noor’s counsel has listed three possible witnesses; Noor is not on the list. As Judge Quaintance observed during a hearing on a contested point of evidence, it’s not clear how Noor will prove the Noor life story that Peter Wold advertised during his opening statement with these three witnesses. If he fails, Judge Quaintance will admonish the jury to ignore that component of the defense’s opening statement.

Yesterday the testimony of Lieutenant Dan May seemed to consume the lion’s share of the day. He has been on the force for 30 years. He makes a good appearance. He transferred to the Fifth Precinct in 2015 (where Noor killed Justine). In July 2017, at the time of Justine’s killing, he supervised the middle watch patrol shift. He responded to the “shots fired” call that went out that night from the scene. He testified what he saw and identified the other officers on the scene.

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At this point Wold elicited testimony from May regarding his precinct briefings on the ambush of police officers. He discussed the incidents that raised his concerns about the ambush of police officers, both nationally and in Minneapolis. The relevance of the Minneapolis incidents was stretched on this point. The Star Tribune story provides some of this ambush testimony in detail.

The tension between the prosecution of this case by the Hennepin County Attorney and the Minneapolis Police Department was almost palpable in the courtroom on the redirect of May by Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton on an issue of fact that assumes the veracity of a point the prosecution disputes.

According to the defense, Justine banged on the officers’ squad car before Noor shot her. The prosecution suggests that the “bang” or “slap” was more or less invented by Sergeant Shannon Barnette, the senior officer first on the scene and therefore the critical incident officer managing it. Lofton asked whether ambushers usually warned the officer with a slap to their squad car. May hesitated before answering in the negative.