Derrick John Thompson was given consecutive sentences totaling 58½ years in prison Thursday for running a red light at more than 100 mph in south Minneapolis and crashing into a sedan, killing five young women.
Thompson, wearing an orange jail uniform, was stoic as he was sentenced on five third-degree murder charges by Hennepin County District Judge Carolina Lamas, who said consecutive terms are “appropriate to recognize the severity given each of the lives that were lost in this case.”
Jurors on June 6 convicted Thompson, the 29-year-old son of a former St. Paul state representative, of the third-degree murder charges and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide for operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and leaving the scene of an accident.
Thompson was driving a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV on June 16, 2023, when a Minnesota State Trooper detected him driving about 100 mph on Interstate 35W north in south Minneapolis. Thompson swerved across four lanes of traffic and exited at Lake Street at 116 mph, then ran a red light at Second Avenue, and T-boned the victims’ Honda Civic just after 10 p.m.
Killed instantly were five friends who were returning from preparing for a friend’s wedding, which was to be the next day: Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center, Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis, and Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis.
Assistant asked the judge to hand down consecutive sentences for every third-degree murder conviction.
“An entire community continues to mourn their loss,’” it read. “The way to accomplish a meaningful sentence for each victim is through consecutive sentences so that (Thompson) experiences sentence for each of the victims he killed.”
Meanwhile, Thompson’s attorney, Tyler Bliss asked that Thompson serve concurrent sentences within a range of about 22 to 28 years in prison.
In September, prosecutors added the charges 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.”
This is a breaking news story, check back for updates.