US cop who killed Justine Damond sentenced to 12-and-a-half years’ jail

Former US police officer Mohamed Noor who shot and killed Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond has received a 12.5-year prison sentence, according to a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.

Noor, 33, was found guilty by a jury in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for killing Damond in July 2017 while responding to her 911 call.

The formed police officer will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, the publication reported.

Meanwhile, it comes after Noor’s lawyers suggested in a pre-sentence filing to the judge for him to serve an unusual sentence of one week in a low-security jail workhouse on the date of Damond’s death and her birthday during the duration of his parole.

The verdict comes weeks after it was announced Damond’s family will receive a record $US20 million (A$28.5 million) in a settlement from the city of Minneapolis, according to a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.

The settlement, reportedly the largest in Minnesota history, followed news Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the death of Damond.

Read more: Family of Justine Damond wins $28M payment over wrongful death

The deal, meanwhile, requires Damond’s family to donate US$2 million of its settlement to a local foundation’s fund aimed at addressing gun violence. The family had originally sued the city for $US50 million.

Damond, who grew up in Sydney, was killed in June 2017, just weeks before she was due to marry her American partner Dan Damond and had already adopted his surname.

She had called police after hearing what she feared with a sexual assault taking place outside her house in Minneapolis, but was shot by Noor after she approached the police car in which he and partner Matthew Harrity were sat.

Harrity has already told investigators that he’d been scared by a noise from outside the car and had already drawn his own gun from its holster when Noor, in the passenger seat, shot across him, hitting Damond in the abdomen.

She died at the scene and Noor declined to cooperate with investigators looking into the shooting. The charges against Noor took nine months to bring

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