Kim Potter's Trial In Daunte Wright's Death Begins Wednesday: Here's How To Watch
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- The trial for former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter is set to begin Wednesday morning for the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright.
According to Hennepin County court records, the trial for Potter will begin at the Hennepin County Government Center. The hearing will be live-streamed.
HOW TO WATCH & FOLLOW: Special live coverage of court proceedings will be on-air and streamed on CBSN Minnesota. You can also check for updates on WCCO.com and by following our social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter.
Earlier this year, Potter, 49, was charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in Wright's April 11 death in Brooklyn Center. The white former officer – she resigned two days after the shooting – has said she meant to use her Taser on the 20-year-old Wright after he tried to drive away from a traffic stop as officers tried to arrest him, but that she grabbed her handgun instead. Her body camera recorded the shooting.
A mostly white jury was seated last week, setting the stage for testimony to begin in a case that sparked angry demonstrations outside the Brooklyn Center police station last spring. Those demonstrations, with protesters frequently clashing with police in riot gear, happened as former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was on trial just 10 miles away for killing George Floyd.
What Each Side May Highlight
WCCO spoke with legal analyst and attorney Joe Tamburino (who is not affiliated with this case) on the importance of strong opening statements.
"The purpose of opening statements is it's your first chance at trying to win your case. It's the first time the state can get out there and say, 'Here's why we should win.' It's the first time the defense can say, 'Here's why we should win,'" Tamburino said. "Many attorneys will say opening statements give a roadmap or blueprint of the case. Sure, they do, but the real purpose is to get your message out there. If you're not strong and forceful at openings, you hurt your case."
Tamburino shared three things he thinks both the defense and the prosecution should cover during their opening statement:
Prosecution:
- Accountability. This case is about holding someone accountable for their actions regardless of whether it was a mistake or accident.
- Recklessness. That means that Potter "should have known better." She should have used greater care.
- Training. Potter has 26 years on the force, she's extremely experienced with weapons and tasers, and she is a training officer. She trains other cops.
Defense:
- "Accident" does not equal "crime."
- Recklessness. That means a conscious disregard for the safety of others. She's only guilty if she knew the risks and consciously disregarded them.
- This case is not about use of force. No one is arguing that Potter intentionally wanted to shoot and/or kill Wright. Even the state believes it wasn't intentional because they never charged her with any intentional crime.
Case Background
Jurors will be presented with starkly different views of the Minnesota police officer who killed Black motorist Daunte Wright during opening statements at her manslaughter trial Wednesday, with the defense claiming that Kim Potter made an innocent mistake by pulling her handgun instead of her Taser and the prosecution portraying her as a veteran cop who had gone through extensive training that warned of such a mix-up.
Potter was training a new officer when they pulled Wright over for having expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror, according to a criminal complaint.
When they found that Wright had an outstanding arrest warrant, they tried to arrest him but he got back into his car instead of cooperating. Potter's body-camera video recorded her shouting "Taser, Taser, Taser" and "I'll tase you" before she fired once with her handgun. Afterward, she is heard saying, "I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun."
To bolster their claim that it was an accident, defense attorneys have highlighted Potter's immediate reaction and later body-camera footage that hasn't been seen by the public in which Potter is said to have repeatedly expressed remorse. But they have also asserted that Potter was within her rights to use deadly force if she had consciously chosen to do so because Wright's actions endangered other officers at the scene.
"She believed the use of a Taser was appropriate when she saw Mr. Wright's abject denial of his lawful arrest coupled with his attempted flight," defense attorney Paul Engh wrote in a pretrial filing seeking to dismiss one of the charges. "She could have shot him."
Prosecutors have countered that Potter had been trained on Taser use several times during her 26-year police career, including twice in the six months that preceded the shooting. In one of their own pretrial filings, they cited training that explicitly warns officers about confusing a handgun with a Taser and directs them "to learn the differences between their Taser and firearm to avoid such confusion."
Potter, they argued in their filing, "consciously and intentionally acted in choosing to use force on Daunte Wright and in reaching for, drawing, pointing, and manipulating a weapon."
A jury of 14 people, including two white alternates, will hear the case. Nine of the 12 jurors likely to deliberate are white, one is Black and two are Asian.
The jury's racial makeup is roughly in line with the demographics of Hennepin County, which is about 74% white. But the jury is notably less diverse than the one that convicted Chauvin in Floyd's killing.
Potter has told the court she will testify.
The most serious charge against Potter requires prosecutors to prove recklessness, while the lesser requires them to prove culpable negligence. Minnesota's sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of just over seven years on the first-degree manslaughter count and four years on the second-degree one. Prosecutors have said they will seek a longer sentence.
(© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
