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Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Verdict awaits after closing arguments in Derrick Thompson's trial for crash that killed 5
The crash that killed five young women in south Minneapolis nearly three years ago was not just an accident, bad luck or chance, the prosecution said Thursday in its closing argument in the trial of Derrick John Thompson. It was murder in the third degree, Hennepin County prosecutor Paige Starkey told jurors, 'because these five young women lost their lives as a direct consequence of the reckless, selfish, destructive choices of another driver.' After five days of testimony, the jury received the case at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and began deliberations to decide whether the state had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Thompson — the 29-year-old son of a former St. Paul state representative — is guilty of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide for allegedly operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and leaving the scene of an accident. The jury had not reached a verdict as of 4:30 p.m. and was sent home for the day. They will reconvene Friday. Prosecutors say Thompson was driving 95 mph on Interstate 35W in a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV when he passed a Minnesota State Trooper, exited on Lake Street at 116 mph, and then ran a red light at Second Avenue, crashing into the victims' Honda Civic just after 10 p.m. June 16, 2023. Pronounced dead at the scene were Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis, and Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis. They were returning from preparing for a friend's wedding, which was to be the next day. In September, prosecutors added the five counts of third-degree murder, which is defined in state statute as 'perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.' 'Members of the jury, not every murder is calculated or considered,' Starkey said. 'Not every murder is directed at a particular person or people.' Tyler Bliss, Thompson's attorney, tried to cast doubt during the trial that his client was the driver, despite jurors seeing surveillance video of him renting the Escalade from Hertz at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and then driving away. Bliss suggested his older brother, Damarco Thompson, was the driver that night, pointing to evidence that his hat and a set of car keys were found inside the crashed SUV. In response, the state subpoenaed Damarco to take the stand. On Wednesday, he testified that he never drove the Escalade. He said the two of them drove a short distance from the airport, stopped and Derrick transferred some possessions from their Dodge Challenger into the Escalade, which his brother then drove away. In his closing arguments Thursday, Bliss questioned the credibility of Demarco, who he said is a 'person with one of the most strong motives to give self-serving testimony I've ever encountered in a case. Who on Earth would want to be associated with this situation?' Early on in the state's one-hour long closing argument, prosecutors reminded jurors of how Thompson acted after the crash by replaying police officer body-cam video of an interaction with Thompson. 'Do you know how long this is going to take?' he asked an officer while sitting in the back of a squad car, adding he had 'things I do wanna get done on my Friday night, you know?' Starkey went on to go through the video evidence in chronological order from that night, starting with Thompson at Hertz and the Escalade speeding past a state trooper parked under an I-35W overpass. 'Members of the jury, you make the decision,' Starkey said. 'Has his driving conduct changed? Does it appear that he's now going faster? … You can see the trooper behind him hasn't gained a lot, because at this point, he's got his foot down on the accelerator.' Video showed the trooper wasn't able to catch up or turn on the squad's emergency lights or sirens before the speeding SUV turned off the interstate and narrowly missed cars. Then, the violent collision, which sent off a large plume of smoke. 'Derrick Thompson's behavior, his series of choices that night were criminal,' Starkey said, 'because they were eminently dangerous to everyone and anyone who happened to be on the road that night.' Short video clips were replayed of Thompson crossing Lake Street and walking into a Taco Bell parking lot, where he 'makes the decision basically to try to blend in,' Starkey said. 'Why are you bleeding?' an officer asks Thompson after he's seen sitting on a parking lot curb with an injury to his face. He told officers it was an old injury, then said he had fallen at Lake Street and Fifth Avenue earlier in the night. Another video clip showed what Starkey said was Thompson 'struggling to turn and manipulate his body to even sit down in the back of the squad car.' He was taken to the hospital for treatment for a fracture on the right side of his hip, which Starkey said is 'wholly consistent' with him slamming on the brake pedal before impact. Starkey reminded jurors that the state's first witness, Kanitra Walker, Thompson's former girlfriend, testified that he had called her from the hospital and that he said he was driving. Starkey pointed out that state troopers had testified the mangled Escalade's passenger-side doors were stuck shut, casting doubt that Thompson was a passenger in the SUV. Although Starkey acknowledge that a DNA mixture found on the inside driver's door matched Derrick and Damarco, she added that brothers and family members share characteristics of DNA and also that transfer is possible with DNA. 'I want to be clear: There is no evidence in this case that more than one person was ever driving the Cadillac Escalade,' Starkey said. 'No one saw another driver, there's no video of another driver.' Over the course of at least two minutes, Thompson made the criminally reckless choices 'to drive the way he did both on and the interstate and off — and 'that is indifference to human life,' Starkey said. In the defense closing argument, Bliss said there is no evidence that Thompson knew he was being followed by the state trooper. Thompson's attorney said the driver who was 'trying to jab on that brake' showed 'regard for human life.' Ex-teacher of Hmong College Prep Academy in St. Paul sentenced for criminal sexual conduct with student 'Felt as though they were going to kill me,' Mahtomedi man beaten and robbed of casino winnings says in court Macalester alum sues over animal testing in psychology labs; college responds David French: Why Trump is mad at 'sleasebag' Leonard Leo St. Paul man sentenced to workhouse for throwing fatal 'sucker punch' outside East Side bar Driving at 'great speeds' is recklessness and not a depraved act or acting with indifference to life, Bliss said. 'This is recklessness, realization of the mistake and an inability to resolve from that mistake,' he said. 'Because of that, whoever's driving this vehicle is not guilty of any of the murder charges here.' Thompson's father, John Thompson, was a first-term lawmaker representing St. Paul's East Side when he was defeated in the DFL primary in August 2022 in the wake of a number of controversies, which included questions about his official residence following a July 2021 traffic stop in St. Paul. In November, Thompson turned down a plea offer from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office that called for a prison term between 32½ and nearly 39 years for pleading guilty to five counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Derrick Thompson's trial begins in deaths of 5 women
He was not the driver. That's what Derrick Thompson's attorney subtly introduced to jurors Thursday as Thompson's murder trial got underway in the south Minneapolis crash that killed five young women nearly two years ago. Although defense attorney Tyler Bliss in his opening statements did not give the name of who he will argue was the driver, a court document pins the blame on Thompson's brother, Demarco John Thompson, in a one-page notice of defense Bliss filed in court Tuesday, listing him as an 'alternative perpetrator.' 'The question of tragedy is not what this trial is about,' Bliss told jurors. 'The question presented here in this court is whether or not the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that my client drove that vehicle, and if he had the specific mental state to commit murder, to commit homicide. And, ladies and gentlemen, they simply cannot meet that burden.' Prosecutors say that Derrick Thompson was driving 95 mph on Interstate 35W in a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV, passing a Minnesota State Trooper, exiting on Lake Street, and then running a red light at Second Avenue and crashing into the victims' Honda Civic still at a high rate of speed just after 10 p.m. June 16, 2023. Pronounced dead at the scene were Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis, and Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis. They were returning from preparing for a friend's wedding. 'These five young women, between the ages of 17 and 20, lost their lives due to the act of another that was shockingly reckless, incredibly selfish and unspeakably foolish,' Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joseph Paquette told jurors. Thompson, the 29-year-old son of a former St. Paul state representative, was originally charged with 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide for allegedly operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and leaving the scene of an accident. In September, prosecutors added five counts of third-degree murder, which is defined in state statute as 'perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.' While hearing evidence in the case, Paquette told jurors, 'ask yourself, how dangerous were the defendant's actions? What was his mindset when he did the things that the evidence shows he did in this case? Did the defendant flee the scene of the crash, and did his actions demonstrate an indifference to the loss of human life that he caused?' In November, Thompson turned down a plea offer from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office that called for a prison term between 32½ and nearly 39 years for pleading guilty to five counts of criminal vehicular homicide. A month earlier, a federal jury found Thompson, of Brooklyn Park, guilty of federal drug and weapons charges connected to the crash after more than 2,000 fentanyl pills and a Glock 40 semiautomatic handgun were found inside the Cadillac after the crash. A sentencing date has not been set. Jury selection began Tuesday at the Hennepin County courthouse and wrapped up Thursday afternoon. Judge Carolina Lamas is presiding over the case, which has shaken Minnesota's Somali community and attracted a high level of public interest and national media coverage. Lamas is allowing one TV news camera to record the trial, with the video footage to be shared with other media outlets. She denied requests for a livestream. A still photographer is also permitted in the courtroom, which on Thursday overflowed with family and friends of the victims. A second courtroom was opened up to accommodate everyone. Paquette read the names and ages of the five victims at the start of the state's opening statement. He then played a short clip of the crash, which was caught on video surveillance. What followed in the courtroom was loud gasps from the gallery. One woman got up and left, returning a short while later with a box of tissues. 'They never stood a chance,' Paquette said. 'The defendant t-boned a Honda Civic. What resulted isn't sufficiently described as a crash or a collision. It was an explosion. The Honda Civic was damaged beyond all recognition. No one from that vehicle could have survived. And no one did.' Paquette told jurors they will hear from several witnesses who saw Thompson shortly after the crash. Homeowner Dorinda Pacheco saw him limping past her Second Avenue house, then cut through a neighbor's yard and go down the alley toward a McDonald's parking lot, Paquette said. Thompson soon asked Carolyn Stauffer if he could use her cellphone, and she let him do so. He made a call and asked the person on the other end of the phone to come and pick him up from a Taco Bell parking lot, according to Paquette. After Thompson was arrested near the fast-food restaurant, he denied involvement in the crash and said his injuries were 'old.' He then said he had fallen earlier in the night, the charges say. 'This was an immediate red flag to officers, because they could tell that this was obviously a new injury,' Paquette said. The five women had just gotten done preparing for their friend's wedding, which was scheduled for the next day. They went shopping. A few got henna tattoos. Meanwhile, Thompson was at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where Paquette said he was dropped off by his brother and rented the black Escalade from Hertz. 'He's seen clearly on surveillance video driving away from the facility in the Escalade with no other occupants,' Paquette said. 'He then makes his way from the airport and eventually onto highway 35 headed north.' Minnesota State Trooper Andres Guerra saw Thompson speeding and, before he could catch up or turn on the squad's emergency lights or sirens, Thompson 'cut across all lanes of traffic' and exited the interstate, Paquette said. 'After the crash, as you saw, both vehicles were launched north of the intersection and rolled end over end,' he said. 'The defendant crawled out of the Escalade right in front of the home of a woman named Dorinda Pacheco.' On the ground near the totaled vehicles, officers found the Hertz rental agreement that listed Thompson as the driver and noted the SUV had been rented just under a half-hour before the crash, Paquette said. 'You're also going to hear evidence during this trial that the defendant's brother, Demarco, his DNA, was possibly found in one location of the vehicle,' Paquette said. 'But Demarco was never seen inside of the vehicle, and it is an open question whether he ever even entered the vehicle at all.' Bliss, Thompson's attorney, said Thursday, 'When the dust settles, the smoke clears, you'll see multiple doors to this vehicle opened. You will see the DNA of multiple people in this car who are seen renting the vehicle 35 minutes before this occurs.' The prosecution was dealt a setback last week when the state court of appeals affirmed Lamas' ruling that prosecutors cannot introduce evidence from Thompson's 2018 crash in Montecito, Calif., in which he fled from officers in a vehicle, struck a pedestrian and left the scene on foot. The victim was placed in an induced coma and she had to undergo six surgeries within eight days of the crash. Thompson pleaded guilty in Santa Barbara County District Court in 2020 to charges of 'evading an officer (and) causing injury, leaving the scene of an accident (that caused) injury/death.' He was released from prison about six months before the Lake Street crash. The state sought to introduce evidence from that case to prove Thompson knew that his actions in Minneapolis were 'eminently dangerous' to others and that he 'acted with a depraved mind' — the key elements of a third-degree murder charge. The appeals court said in its May 19 ruling that while the two car crashes both involved reckless driving and caused serious injury, 'this commonality is too general' in showing a pattern of behavior. Police looking for hit-and-run driver who injured 2 pedestrians in Falcon Heights Man fatally shot in St. Paul ID'd as 20-year-old Crypto crime spills over from behind the screen to real-life violence Pair sentenced in human smuggling case that left Indian family dead on Minnesota border Angry with electrical utility, Iron Range official cuts wire, knocking out power to 3 towns In its 19-page opinion, the appeals court ruled that Lamas did not abuse her discretion in excluding the evidence from the California crash, while also acknowledging the decision 'significantly reduced the likelihood of a successful prosecution of Thompson for charges of third-degree depraved-mind murder.' The state's first witness was Kanitra Walker, Thompson's former girlfriend, who testified that Thompson called her from the hospital, where was recovering from his injuries, and said 'he was going a little fast and everything just happened so fast.' She said he never made a statement about his brother or anyone else being with him at the time of the crash. The trial will resume Friday and is expected to last into late next week. Thompson's father, John Thompson, was a first-term lawmaker representing St. Paul's East Side when he was defeated in the DFL primary in August 2022 in the wake of a number of controversies, which included questions about his official residence following a July 2021 traffic stop in St. Paul.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Yahoo
Brothers convicted in their mother's 2010 murder plead guilty to drug trafficking
Two Minnesota brothers who were convicted in their mother's 2010 murder have now pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota said 38-year-old Dillon Peter-Cody Clemens and 30-year-old Jacob Seth Cobb – both of Brooklyn Park – had already been indicted each on one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Clemens pleaded guilty on Jan. 27 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and Cobb did the same on Jan. 21. Federal prosecutors say the two were stopped by a Minnesota State Trooper on June 22, 2024 in Royalton. The trooper identified multiple signs of drug activity in the car, which included a "screwdriver, flashlight, black electric tape, loose panels and molding around the radio and center console," according to court documents. Both Clemens and Cobb had revoked licenses at the time. They claimed to the trooper they were on their way to buy a motorcycle in Motley, but failed to provide the name or street address of the alleged seller. After the trooper had a K9 search the vehicle, a pound of methamphetamine was found on the driver's side door seam, charges say. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled for a later date regarding the case. The two had previously been convicted of their mother's murder over a decade ago, along with another brother, Andrew Quinton Cobb. Tamara Lee Mason, 50, of Alberta, Minnesota, was reported missing on Dec. 27, 2010 before she was eventually found buried in her own backyard in July 2011, according to Stevens County District Court records. The Duluth News Tribune reported that the two brothers got into an argument with their mother "because they didn't want to play Yahtzee with her." The brothers claimed at the time of her disappearance to authorities that because they wouldn't play the game with her, she grabbed some items, left the home and never returned. Clemens later told investigators that Cobb had strangled Mason while his brother Andrew put a plastic bag over her head. An autopsy later revealed that Mason's cause of death was "asphyxiation due to neck compression resulting in a fractured larynx," according to multiple reports. Jacob Cobb was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder while committing 3rd-degree assault. Clemens was sentenced to nearly eight years after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to Mason's murder. Andrew Cobb was sentenced to just short of two years after he also pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
