Derrick Thompson on trial: sins of the brother

Damarco Thompson is reported to have been Derrick’s passenger in the rented Cadillac Escalade that night.

The federal trial for Derrick John Thompson on drug and gun charges begins October 7 at the federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul. He is the man facing 15 state counts in the June 2023 car crash that killed five young women near Lake Street in south Minneapolis. Derrick’s current mugshot:

As the federal trial date approaches, both the prosecution and defense are filing a flurry of documents.

The 41-page trial brief filed by prosecutors includes this intriguing bit of information (p. 10) about the passenger in Thompson’s rented Escalade that night:

You may recall that the existence of a passenger that night was revealed in a footnote (p. 4) in an earlier court filing:

The trial exhibit list for next month filed by the defense includes only four items:

The prosecution’s exhibit list includes 93 items and mentions Damarco on five occasions.

Media reports over the years show that Derrick does indeed have a brother named Demarco. Both Derrick and Damarco John Thompson are sons of the former state Rep. John Derrick Thompson (DFL-St. Paul).

Fox 9 TV reported in August 2018 that Damarco was the victim of a shooting in St. Paul. In September 2020, MN Reformer reported on Damarco’s arrest on a gun possession charge in St. Paul.

Court records from that September 2020 case indicate that the felony gun charge was pled down to a gross misdemeanor.

A March 2023 traffic violation lists Damarco’s address as Brooklyn Park.

Damarco was convicted of felony drug possession in a case dating back to April 2020. In that case, he received a downward departure on the sentence, over the objections of the prosecutor. Had he served a full three-year sentence in that case, Damarco would not have been available to ride in the Escalade that night in June 2023.

A January 2019 case in St. Paul produced a felony gun conviction. An April 2018 case in St. Paul produced a felony drug conviction.

Given Damarco’s judicial history, one could infer that Derrick’s defense may attempt to pin the gun and/or drug charges on the brother.

Stay tuned!