Serious Traffic Crimes

A Minnesota judge has confirmed that Derrick Thompson, 29, will effectively spend about 64 years in prison for a 2023 high‑speed crash in south Minneapolis that killed five young women, after combining his state and federal sentences. Thompson was convicted in July of five counts of third‑degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide for the June 16, 2023 collision, in which he sped off from a trailing state trooper, reached roughly 100 mph, and slammed into the victims’ vehicle as they prepared for a friend’s wedding. Police found a loaded handgun, more than 2,000 fentanyl pills and other narcotics in his rented Cadillac, leading to separate federal fentanyl and firearm charges for which he was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years, partially concurrent with his nearly 59‑year state term. Prosecutors say his defense that his brother was driving was undermined by testimony and evidence, and the case has drawn attention in Minnesota because of the youth of the Somali American victims and the scale of the drug haul involved.