A Minnesota jury on Thursday found a former police officer Kimberly Potter guilty for the murder in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright’s black driver during the traffic stop when he mistakenly issued his gun instead of.
A jury 12 members found Potter, 49, guilty of the second title and the second level of massacre in the death of the 20-year-old Wright he killed on the outskirts of Minneapolis at Brooklyn Center on April 11 with a bullet to the chest.
Potter, who strike last week was held when he testified with his regret for the shooting, showed a little emotion when the Regina Chu judge read the verdict.
“We will bring MS Potter to detention and hold without collateral,” Chu said.
The shooting triggered several nights intense demonstrations at Brooklyn Center.
It happened just a few miles north where the crane Chauvin, a former Police officer Minneapolis, was at the same time standing to kill George Floyd, a black man whose death 2020 during the arrest had triggered protests in US cities over racism and.
Police brutality.
Chauvin was convicted of murder.
Both him and white potter.
Caught on the body-worn camera, the basic facts of the incident were mostly not in disputes.
The two prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed that Potter mistakenly pulled the wrong weapon and was never intended to kill Wright.
In this issue is whether the jury will find his actions to become reckless in the violation of the state murder law, or call the incident with a tragic error that does not guarantee criminal obligations.
Throughout the trial, the prosecutor emphasized 26 years Potter as a police officer, the level of experience they said made his mistake unreachable.
They said he ignored his training, which included a specific course of Taser in the months before the shooting, and took the risk of conscious and unreasonable in using any weapons against unarmed Wright.
Potter’s lawyer tried to blame Wright because he rejected the arrest, which they debated had created a dangerous situation and confirmed his use.
While acknowledging his mistake, they said his actions were not criminal because he thought he used his taser and didn’t realize he had drawn his gun.
Defense also leaned many of Dr.
Laurence Miller, a psychologist who testified about “action error”, or when someone took one action while intending to do another.
Miller said such an error and can be triggered by stress.
To secure confidence in the allegations of the murder of the first title, prosecutors were required to prove without doubt that Potter caused Wright’s death while committing a violation of mild violations by carelessly, according to Minnesota law.
For the second level murder, the jury was asked to find Potter guilty of “blame negligence”, which meant he created “risks that do not make sense and consciously” take the opportunity to cause the death of Wright or serious body damage.