Mohamed Noor Sentenced to 12½ Years for Killing Justine Damond

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder has been sentenced to a 12½ year prison term for the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911.

A Minnesota jury convicted Mohamed Noor in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Noor shot Damond when she approached his squad car in the alley behind her home.

Noor's lawyers had argued for a light sentence, saying sending him to prison would only compound the tragedy and leave him unable to make amends for killing Damond.

But Judge Kathryn Quaintance on Friday sentenced the 33-year-old Noor to the identical sentence recommended under state guidelines.