Thursday April 4, 2019
By JEFF BAENEN
Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor leaves the Hennepin County Government Center after the first day of trial in Minneapolis on Monday, April 1, 2019. Noor is charged in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who was killed after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP) The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS – A judge
and attorneys winnowed the jury pool Wednesday for the murder trial of a
former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who
had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her home.
Another
four prospective jurors were excused from the trial of Mohamed Noor in
the afternoon. A retired school principal was let go after she
questioned why police would have to shoot someone. A young woman was
told she could leave after saying she identified with the victim,
Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual Australian-U.S. citizen who
had approached Noor's squad car after summoning police to the alley
behind her home.
Two
men were excused after saying they would face financial hardships if
they stayed for a trial that could last three to four weeks.Noor,
33, is charged with murder and manslaughter in the July 2017 death of
Damond, a life coach who was engaged to marry a Minneapolis man. Noor
has declined to speak to investigators, but his attorneys plan to argue
that he acted in self-defense.
Attorneys and the judge agreed to
excuse five potential jurors Wednesday morning based on their written
answers to questions such as their experiences with a person of Somali
heritage. Noor is Somali American. One of the dismissed jurors wrote
that Noor "shouldn't have been a cop" and should be "punished."
Another
prospective juror, a young man whose uncle was shot in a gas station
robbery, was questioned in court and excused after saying his family
members are hunters but that he found it "hard to understand why anyone
would fire a weapon at another human and take their life."
A total
of 16 potential jurors have been excused so far. A pool of 75 potential
jurors filled out questionnaires Monday. Jury selection continues
Thursday.