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 communicated 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 motorcycle and if he had the specific mental state to commit murder to commit homicide And ladies and gentlemen they solely cannot meet that burden Derrick John Thompson Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Prosecutors say that Derrick Thompson was driving mph on Interstate W 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 casualties Honda Civic still at a high rate of speed just after p m June Pronounced dead at the scene were Salma Mohamed Abdikadir of St Louis Park Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali of Bloomington Sahra Liban Gesaade of Brooklyn Center Sagal Burhaan Hersi of Minneapolis and Siham Adan Odhowa of Minneapolis They were returning from preparing for a friend s wedding These five young women between the ages of and lost their lives due to the act of another that was shockingly reckless incredibly selfish and unspeakably foolish Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joseph Paquette communicated jurors Thompson the -year-old son of a former St Paul state representative was originally charged with counts of criminal vehicular homicide for allegedly operating a motor wagon 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 episode Paquette communicated 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 scenario 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 and nearly years for pleading guilty to five counts of criminal vehicular homicide A month earlier a federal jury exposed Thompson of Brooklyn Park guilty of federal drug and weapons charges connected to the crash after more than fentanyl pills and a Glock semiautomatic handgun were detected 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 occurrence which has shaken Minnesota s Somali society and attracted a high level of community 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 casualties A second courtroom was opened up to accommodate everyone They never stood a chance Paquette read the names and ages of the five casualties at the start of the state s opening message 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 mentioned 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 conveyance could have survived And no one did Paquette informed jurors they will hear from several bystanders 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 reported Thompson soon requested Carolyn Stauffer if he could use her cellphone and she let him do so He made a call and requested 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 noted his injuries were old He then revealed 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 revealed On the night of The five women had just gotten done preparing for their friend s wedding which was scheduled for the next day They went shopping A limited got henna tattoos Meanwhile Thompson was at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport where Paquette mentioned 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 revealed He then makes his way from the airport and eventually onto highway headed north Minnesota State Trooper Andres Guerra saw Thompson speeding and before he could catch up or turn on the squad s crisis lights or sirens Thompson cut across all lanes of traffic and exited the interstate Paquette noted After the crash as you saw both vehicles were launched north of the intersection and rolled end over end he mentioned 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 identified 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 reported You re also going to hear evidence during this trial that the defendant s brother Demarco his DNA was possibly identified in one location of the van Paquette revealed But Demarco was never seen inside of the van and it is an open question whether he ever even entered the bus at all Bliss Thompson s attorney mentioned Thursday When the dust settles the smoke clears you ll see multiple doors to this bus opened You will see the DNA of multiple people in this car who are seen renting the conveyance minutes before this occurs Earlier ruling 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 crash in Montecito Calif in which he fled from officers in a car 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 to charges of evading an officer and causing injury leaving the scene of an accident that caused injury death He was issued from prison about six months before the Lake Street crash The state sought to introduce evidence from that scenario 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 disclosed in its May 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 Related Articles Police looking for hit-and-run driver who injured pedestrians in Falcon Heights Man fatally shot in St Paul ID d as -year-old Crypto crime spills over from behind the screen to real-life violence Pair sentenced in human smuggling episode that left Indian family dead on Minnesota territory line Angry with electrical utility Iron Range official cuts wire knocking out power to towns In its -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 prosperous prosecution of Thompson for charges of third-degree depraved-mind murder Testimony from ex-girlfriend 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 disclosed he was going a little fast and everything just happened so fast She reported he never made a announcement 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 in the wake of a number of controversies which included questions about his official residence following a July traffic stop in St Paul