Minnesota 3rd-Degree Murder Law at Issue in Ex-Cop's Appeal

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A prosecutor has urged the Minnesota Supreme Court to uphold the third-degree murder conviction of Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an Australian woman who had called 911 in 2017.

Prosecutor Jean Burdorf told the state's highest court on Wednesday that a reversal would make it impossible to prosecute other officers on the same charge.

But defense attorney Caitlinrose Fisher argued that the Minnesota Court of Appeals erred in February when it affirmed Noor’s conviction.

She argued that the language of Minnesota’s third-degree murder statute, backed by case law, requires that a defendant’s actions be directed at more than one person.