Jury seated in Mohamed Noor trial, opening statements to begin Tuesday

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The jury is set in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, with opening statements to begin Tuesday morning. 

Noor is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond after she called police to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home in 2017. 

The jury--12 jurors and four alternates--consists of four women and 12 men. The jury includes half-a-dozen minorities, with four born outside the U.S. including two from the Phillipines, one from Pakistan and another from Ethiopia.

Professionally, the jury includes a Minneapolis firefighter, an OB-GYN physician, a restaurant host and a Homeland Security Immigration officer.

"At the end of the day, you only need one juror out of 12 to say ‘not guilty,’ who holds their ground because you have to have a unanimous verdict beyond reasonable doubt,” said criminal defense attorney Marsh Halberg, who is not affiliated with the case.

Attorneys on both sides were very deliberate in who will decide this high-profile case; selecting the jury took the first six days of the trial. 

The judge gave the jury the rest of Monday off. Opening statements in the trial will begin on Tuesday at 9 a.m.