Derrick Thompson: justice delayed

Both state and federal trials involving the son of the former state representative have been pushed back from next month.

The junior Thompson stands accused of killing five young women with his rented Cadillac Escalade in a horror car crash in Minneapolis last summer.

He faces ten felony homicide-related charges in state court, and felony counts in federal court of gun possession (by a convicted felon) and large-scale fentanyl possession. All of the charges arise from the same event on Lake St. last June.

For now, Thompson remains in federal custody, housed in the Sherburne County jail.

Thompson’s state trial was scheduled to begin on February 20, but that date has been cancelled. It was replaced with the re-re-re-scheduling to February 28 of a settlement conference with soft-on-crime Hennepin County prosecutor Mary Moriarty.

His Federal trial was scheduled to begin in late February, but will be pushed back to allow his court-appointed public defender more time to prepare a defense.

His new federal lawyer has been busy, dutifully filing motions to suppress statements made by Thompson the night of the crash, identification of Thompson at the crash scene, and evidence of his voluminous past misdeeds. Cheekily, the lawyer has also filed to dismiss the gun charge on Second Amendment grounds.

I have an update on court proceedings involving the dad. I wrote previously that former state Rep. John Thompson (DFL-St. Paul) was sued civilly in state court last September by the MN Campaign Finance Board for campaign finance violations.

Last month, the judge in the case filed his default judgement against the senior Thompson in the amount of $4,446 (plus interest). Good luck collecting that money.

Thompson did not participate in the case. Efforts undertaken by the state to track down Thompson over the past six months regarding this matter have proven to be unsuccessful.

The judge also ordered the former state representative to file his campaign finance report for year-end 2022, which was due a year ago. It remains unfiled.