Former Minneapolis police Officer Kim Potter has been found guilty of first and second degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright.
After spending over 27 hours deliberating, the jury found Potter guilty. She faces a maximum sentence of 15 years for the first-degree manslaughter charge and a maximum sentence of 10 years for the second-degree manslaughter charge.
Judge Regina Chu ordered Potter to be taken into custody without bail and also rejected a request that Potter be allowed out on $100,000 bail before her sentencing.
Fox News reported that staff in the Hennepin County Government Center were “instructed to stop work and exit the building before the decision was read aloud”. The Minneapolis courthouse was cleared before the outcome was announced.
Prosecutor Erin Eldridge, who is also a member of the prosecuting team in the Chauvin trial, said “This was a colossal screw-up, a blunder of epic proportions. It was precisely the thing she was warned about for years and she was trained to prevent it”.
Potter’s defense attorney Earl Gray argued “She made a mistake, and, my gosh, a mistake is not a crime”.
Potter is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 18. She testified for about three hours on Friday and said she mistook her handgun for her Taser during Wright’s arrest.
Potter had 26 years of experience as a police officer and was attempting to arrest Wright with other officers. After learning of a warrant for his arrest, the officers tried to detain Wright.
In a video, Wright can be seen climbing back into the driver’s seat of a vehicle and Potter, and in her body camera footage, Potter can be heard saying “I’ll tase you!” and “Taser! Taser! Taser!” before firing her gun.
The footage also shows Potter saying “I grabbed the wrong f—— gun” and “Holy s—, I just shot him”.
Potter resigned days after the shooting along with former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon.