Derek Chauvin, the disgraced Minneapolis cop convicted of murdering George Floyd, may regain his freedom sooner than expected, after another officer from the same department had a homicide conviction scrapped last month.
Former Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor, 36, was initially convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an unarmed, dual U.S.-Australian citizen and yoga teacher who was engaged to be married, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2019.
She was shot dead after running up to Noor after calling 911 to report what she feared was a rape happening nearby, with the cop later convicted of her killing.
However, that sentence was tossed in September of this year, after Noor's lawyers argued that the third-degree murder charge did not fit the then officer's crime, citing a technicality concerning the specific wording of Noor's murder charge.
Legal experts now fear that precedent could be used to challenge Chauvin's April 2021 conviction for the second-degree murder of Floyd in May 2020.
Minneapolis cops Derek Chauvin, 45, and Mohammed Noor, 36, were both convicted of murder after killing George Floyd and Justine Ruszczyk Damond, respectively, while on duty. Namond's third-degree murder conviction, however, was tossed last month, leading experts to believe that the same may happen for Chauvin
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office initially charged Noor with third-degree murder for committing a dangerous act and exhibiting 'a depraved mind.'
But Noor's legal team attested that the officer was merely spooked when he gunned down Damond, 40, who had called the officers to her Minneapolis home to report a possible rape, and was shot after running up to Noor's and his partner's squad car.
The legal maneuver worked, and Noor's third-degree murder charge was tossed - leaving Noor with just the manslaughter conviction.
The ex-cop was then resentenced to just five years in prison earlier this month, as opposed to the aforementioned 12.
Noor also already served 29 months of his sentence over the course of his trial, making him eligible for early release as soon as June 2022.
The overturned conviction now has experts wondering what could happen to Noor's counterpart Chauvin, the Minneapolis cop charged with killing Floyd, an unarmed black man, in May 2020 during a routine arrest.
George Floyd and Justine Ruszczyk Damond were both killed by Minneapolis police officers while they were on duty. The similarities in both of their cases lead experts to believe that the rulings in one may set a legal precedence for the other
'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,' criminal defense attorney Andrew Wilson told VICE News days
