Former officer Kim Potter on trial for Daunte Wright’s death

Opening statements in the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a routine traffic stop are expected to start soon in the same courtroom where another ex-cop was convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd.

Here’s your guide to today’s opening statements:

What the trial is about: Officer Kimberly Potter, 49, faces first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in a homicide her lawyers have suggested resulted from her mistaking her gun for a Taser in April. Potter has pleaded not guilty and faces at least a decade in prison if convicted. 

The shooting of the 20-year-old Black man happened in Brooklyn Center, a few miles from the Hennepin County Government Center where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was on trial for killing Floyd. 

The shooting’s aftermath: Wright’s killing set off several days of protests in the Minneapolis suburb. It rocked a metropolitan area scarred by other police-involved deaths and reignited national conversations about policing and the use of force against people of color.

Key evidence: Just as video footage played a crucial role in the case against Chauvin, body camera video is expected to be critical in the trial against Potter, who is White. 

Wright was driving on a Sunday afternoon in April when officers pulled him over for an expired tag, police said. The amended criminal complaint said Wright was also stopped because his car “had an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.”

In the footage, Potter can be heard yelling “Taser” repeatedly before she points her handgun and shoots the unarmed Wright.

After firing, Potter is heard yelling: “Holy s***! I just shot him!”

The trial’s attorneys: Potter’s testimony could also be crucial. Defense attorney Paul Engh told a prospective juror that Potter will take the stand. 

Potter’s defense attorneys, Engh and Earl Gray, have previously represented police officers in closely watched cases.   

Engh was an attorney for Jeronimo Yanez, the former St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer who was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Philando Castile. Gray represents another ex-cop facing charges in connection with Floyd’s death and also served on Yanez’s legal team. 

Matthew Frank, an assistant attorney general who was the lead prosecutor against Chauvin, is handling Potter’s case before Hennepin County Judge Regina M. Chu. 

The final members of the jury that will decide Potter’s fate were selected last week.

What we know about the jury: The 14 jurors, including two alternates, are seven White men, four White women, two Asian women and a Black woman.  

Read more about today’s events here.

Seven men and seven women were selected for the jury in the trial against Kim Potter, a former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man during a traffic stop.

The jury also includes two alternates.

The jury is comprised of seven White men, four White women, two Asian women, and one Black woman. No Black men were selected for the jury.

Widely circulated body camera video of a suburban Minneapolis police officer fatally shooting Daunte Wright in a car during a traffic stop is likely to play a central role as she goes on trial Tuesday for her role in his death.

The shooting appears to be the result of Officer Kimberly Potter, 49, mistaking her gun for a stun gun, and happened in Brooklyn Center, a few miles from Minneapolis, during the trial against Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd.

The town’s police chief shared some video less than 24 hours after the shooting, to be transparent. 

In the body camera footage, Potter can be heard yelling “Taser” repeatedly before she shoots Wright, 20. After firing her handgun, she yells, “Holy s***! I just shot him!”

Video footage has also played a crucial role in recent high-profile homicide cases, resulting in a guilty verdict against Chauvin, not guilty verdicts against Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting three people during unrest last year, and guilty verdicts in the case of three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. 

Potter was originally charged with second-degree manslaughter in April and prosecutors added a first-degree manslaughter charge in early September. She faces at least a decade in prison if convicted. Opening arguments are scheduled to start today

You can read more about the video and the trial here.

The fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright by a White police officer outside Minneapolis prompted protests and clashes with law enforcement.

Wright was killed by Officer Kim Potter during a routine traffic stop in April in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, according to police.

Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to a news release from Washington County Attorney Pete Orput’s office.

Here is what we know about Potter:

Potter, 48, was with the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She joined the department in 1995, according to the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

She served as the police union’s president in 2019, had been on the department’s negotiation team and worked as field training officer, the Tribune reported.

She was placed on administrative leave after the shooting.

A county attorney’s report states this was not Potter’s first time dealing with the aftermath of a police officer shooting someone. In 2019, police fatally shot a man who was threatening his grandfather with a knife and hammer. The use of deadly force by police in that incident was ruled lawful, the report states.

In accordance with Brooklyn Center Police Department policies, Potter — who not present at the time of the shooting — gave instructions to the two officers involved in the shooting to get into different police cars, turn off their body cameras and not speak to each other.

Potter was not accused of any wrongdoing in this instance.

Read more about Potter here.