{"id":1146900,"date":"2021-12-23T15:04:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T20:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1146900"},"modified":"2021-12-23T15:04:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T20:04:27","slug":"former-minnesota-police-officer-kim-potter-found-guilty-in-death-of-daunte-wright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-minnesota-police-officer-kim-potter-found-guilty-in-death-of-daunte-wright\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Minnesota Police Officer Kim Potter Found Guilty in Death of Daunte Wright"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-minnesota-police-officer-kim-potter-found-guilty-in-death-of-daunte-wright%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1146900&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/daunte-wright-officer-trial-screen-grab-video-brooklyn-center-police-officer-kim-potter-takes-questi-e1640288952630-639x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Jurors on Thursday convicted a suburban Minneapolis police officer of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her Taser.<\/p>\n<p>The mostly white jury deliberated for about four days before finding former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. Potter, 49, faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state\u2019s sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Potter, who testified that she \u201cdidn\u2019t want to hurt anybody,\u201d looked down without showing any visible reaction when the verdicts were read.<\/p>\n<p>Potter, who is white, shot and killed the 20-year-old Wright during an April 11 traffic stop in Brooklyn Center as she and other officers were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge. The shooting happened at a time of high tension in the area, with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin standing trial just miles away for the killing of George Floyd. Potter resigned two days later.<\/p>\n<p>Jurors saw video of the shooting that was captured by police body cameras and dashcams. It showed Potter and an officer she was training, Anthony Luckey, pull over Wright for having expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror. During the stop, Luckey discovered there was a warrant for Wright\u2019s arrest for not appearing in court on the weapons possession charge, and he, Potter and another officer went to take Wright into custody.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Wright obeyed Luckey\u2019s order to get out of his car, but as Luckey tried to handcuff him, Wright pulled away and got back in. As Luckey held onto Wright, Potter said \u201cI\u2019ll tase ya.\u201d The video then shows Potter holding her gun in her right hand and pointing it at Wright. Again, Potter said, \u201cI\u2019ll tase you,\u201d and then two seconds later: \u201cTaser, Taser, Taser.\u201d One second later, she fired a single bullet into Wright\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">\u201c(Expletive)! I just shot him. \u2026 I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun,\u201d Potter said. A minute later, she said: \u201cI\u2019m going to go to prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">In sometimes tearful testimony, Potter told jurors that she was \u201csorry it happened.\u201d She said the traffic stop \u201cjust went chaotic\u201d and that she shouted her warning about the Taser after she saw a look of fear on the face of Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was leaning into the passenger-side door of Wright\u2019s car. She also told jurors that she doesn\u2019t remember what she said or everything that happened after the shooting, as much of her memory of those moments \u201cis missing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Potter\u2019s lawyers argued that she made a mistake by drawing her gun instead of her Taser. But they also said she would have been justified in using deadly force if she had meant to because Johnson was at risk of being dragged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Prosecutors sought to raise doubts about Potter\u2019s testimony that she decided to act after seeing fear on Johnson\u2019s face. Prosecutor Erin Eldridge, in cross-examination, pointed out that in an interview with a defense expert Potter said she didn\u2019t know why she decided to draw her Taser. During her closing argument, Eldridge also replayed Potter\u2019s body-camera video that she said never gave a clear view of Johnson\u2019s face during the key moments.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Eldridge also downplayed testimony from some other officers who described Potter as a good person or said they saw nothing wrong in her actions: \u201cThe defendant has found herself in trouble and her police family has her back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Prosecutors also got Potter to agree that she didn\u2019t plan to use deadly force. They said Potter, an experienced officer with extensive training in Taser use and use of deadly force, acted recklessly and betrayed the badge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">For first-degree manslaughter, prosecutors had to prove that Potter caused Wright\u2019s death while committing a misdemeanor \u2014 in this case, the \u201creckless handling or use of a firearm so as to endanger the safety of another with such force and violence that death or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">The second-degree manslaughter charge required prosecutors to prove that Potter caused Wright\u2019s death \u201cby her culpable negligence,\u201d meaning she \u201ccaused an unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm\u201d to Wright while using or possessing a firearm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">Under Minnesota law, defendants are sentenced only on the most serious conviction if multiple counts involve the same act and the same victim. Prosecutors had said they would seek to prove aggravating factors that merit what\u2019s called an upward departure from sentencing guidelines. In Potter\u2019s case, they alleged that her actions were a danger to others, including her fellow officers, to Wright\u2019s passenger and to the couple whose car was struck by Wright\u2019s after the shooting. They also alleged she abused her authority as a police officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-55 Component-p-0-2-46\">The maximum for 1st-degree manslaughter is 15 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Jurors on Thursday convicted a suburban Minneapolis police officer of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist she shot during a traffic &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1146900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}