Derrick Thompson gun and drug trial is underway in St. Paul: he blames his brother

The son of the former state legislator is currently on trial for three federal drug and gun counts.

The federal case arises from that same June 2023 car crash that killed five young women off Lake Street in south Minneapolis.

A search of Thompson’s rented Cadillac Escalade that night produced a loaded gun and large quantities of illegal drugs.

As anticipated in pre-trial filings, Derrick Thompson is blaming his brother Damarco for the guns and drugs in the car. Damarco was riding shotgun that fateful night. As reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune:

For the first time publicly, Thompson’s defense attorneys argued that the drugs and a loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine discovered in the Escalade belonged instead to his brother Damarco John Thompson – whom both the prosecution and defense said was a passenger in the vehicle and also fled the scene of the crash.

For their part, prosecutors take the opposite view:

“This is a case about an armed drug dealer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez told jurors during the government’s opening statement on Tuesday. “We’re here because Derrick John Thompson crashed a car carrying 2,000 fentanyl pills, fentanyl powder, cocaine and a loaded gun.”

Lou Raguse of KARE-11 TV was at the trial and posting updates on Twitter (X). Read his take here. You can also read Lou’s updated story.

The trial began on Monday with jury selection. It is scheduled to run through the end of this week.

Derrick’s next appearance in state court is scheduled for November 4. His state murder trial for the deaths of the five women is scheduled for February 2025.