Derrick Thompson offered a plea deal: you won’t like it

Derrick John Thompson, the son of the former DFL state representative John Derrick Thompson, was back in state court today.

You will recall that the younger Thompson, now aged 28, stands accused of killing 5 young women with his rented Cadillac Escalade in a horrific late-night car crash last year near Lake Street in south Minneapolis.

Thompson’s state felony trial on criminal vehicular homicide charges is scheduled to begin on December 2. He was in court today for a hearing on some preliminary motions.

As he is back (temporarily) in Hennepin County jail, here’s an updated mugshot:

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on the day’s courtroom news:

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey told Judge Carolina Lamas they have offered Derrick Thompson a deal where he would plead guilty to five of 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide while causing the accident and fleeing the scene. If he accepts, Thompson would serve between 32 and 38 years in prison.

The word “serve” is key in the above sentence. In the bizarro math of Minnesota prison sentences, a convict would spend only half his sentence behind bars. So, the question becomes, would he serve 32 years or only 16? He has been in custody since the crash last June and would get credit for time served, which will take off another year and a half.

Regardless, my prediction is that notoriously-soft-on-crime Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty, will knock the number down lower in final negotiations.

You can imagine the reaction to today’s announcement inside the courtroom. The Star Tribune explains:

Family members of the women filled the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, stepping into the hallway to huddle and cry after the potential deal was announced on the record.

All of which goes to explain why, late last year, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger took custody of Thompson to face Federal gun and drug charges arising from that same June 2023 incident.

Thompson is due back in state court on November 4, with his Federal trial scheduled to begin October 7.