Minnesota News Network

Former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter was found guilty by a Hennepin County jury today in the April shooting death of Daunte Wright. The jury of 12 reached its unanimous decision after more than 28 hours of deliberation. Judge Regina Chu ordered that Potter be taken into custody without bail, despite the request from Potter’s attorney Paul Engh to let her post bail saying “she’s not a danger to the public, whatsoever, she’s made all her court appearances, including all of her appearances in the court, it is the holiday season, she’s a devoted Catholic.” The state’s Matthew Frank argued that “the convictions here are for manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the 2nd degree based on the death of Daunte Wright, a young man, in other words, it’s a case that involves death, they are very serious charges.” Potter is set to be sentenced on February 18th.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has tested positive for COVID-19. Walz says his son, who’s in 9th grade, tested positive for COVID-19 Monday. Walz and his wife Gwen were both tested and last night received positive tests. Walz says “as a dad, I’m super concerned for my family but everybody’s doing well, Gwen and I are not only vaccinated, we’re boosted also and I’m experiencing no symptoms.” Walz says he’ll be “following the advice of my doctor, who said just watch it, we’re obviously quarantined for the next 10 days, obviously like so many Minnesotans, this is what happens.” Walz says so far he’s experiencing no symptoms.

The Kim Potter case is now in the hands of the jury. During closing arguments today prosecutor Erin Eldridge said “the defendant told you her sons will be home for the holidays, you know who won’t be home for the holidays is Daunte Wright. Daunte Wright’s parents, Katie and Abruey Wright will have an empty seat at their table this holiday season because the defendant shot and killed him.” Eldridge also argued that “the defense will tell you that Daunte Wright is somehow to blame in causing his own death, but make no mistake, we’re here because of the defendant’s actions, not Daunte Wright’s.” Defense attorney Earl Gray, however, contended that “everything [police at the scene]  were doing as good police officers until Daunte Wright took it upon himself to flee, he even left after he was shot, purposely.” Gray also argued that the state saying Wright had nothing to do with his death was “absurd.” And Gray said “Wright caused his own death, unfortunately, but those are the cold, hard facts of the evidence.” Eldridge made the argument that  “at the heart of it, this case is very simple, members of the jury, it’s a case about the defendant’s reckless handling of a firearm, and it’s about her culpable negligence and it’s about what she did on April 11th.” And Eldridge added that “carrying a badge and a gun is not a license to kill.”On rebuttal, the state’s Matthew Frank responded to the defense by asking the jury: “I want you to consider if we accept that argument, that he caused his own death, we have to accept that any time a person does not meticulously follow the commands of a police officer, they can be shot to death and there would be no consequences to that officer.” Potter has pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

Opening statements in the manslaughter trial of former Brooklyn Center officer Kimberly Potter are set for today. The defense contends that Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun instead of her Taser when she shot and killed 20-year Daunte Wright last April. Former U-S Attorney for Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger says he doesn’t expect any big surprises in opening statements. He predicts the prosecution will address “the fact that [Potter] had Taser training almost immediately before the incident, within a month or two.” Heffelfinger says Potter’s defense will likely focus on “her state of mind and it was a horrible accident and her immediate reaction to what she had done.” The defense indicated during the jury selection process that Potter will testify on her own behalf. Potter has pleaded not guilty. The case will be decided by a jury of 12, with two alternates also serving. The judge says she expects the trial to wrap up around the Christmas holiday.

“All right counsel, we have our jury,” Judge Regina Chu said as the 14th and final juror was seated in the manslaughter trial of Kim Potter. 12 will serve as jurors and two as alternates. Former Brooklyn Center officer Potter is charged with the shooting death of Daunte Wright last April. She has pleaded not guilty. Chu thanked both sides for “being efficient in the questioning” and said she was “really glad we’re on track for starting when we’re supposed to start.” The jury makeup is as follows: white male, 50s; white woman, 60s; white male, 20s;  Asian woman, 40s;  white woman, 20s; black woman, 30s;  white male, 40s; white male 60s;  Asian woman, 20s; white man, 40s;  white woman, 40s;  white man, 50s; white woman, 70s; and a white man, 30s. Opening statements are set for next Wednesday.

President Biden is at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount this afternoon on a visit that’s billed to promote the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill he recently signed. U-S Senator Tina Smith says some of the funding will help Minnesotans get hooked up to broadband Internet. Smith says more than 170,000 Minnesotans currently lack access “and these dollars will be so helpful in completing that connection so that we get closer to the goal of having every single household in the state connected to having high-speed Internet access.” Senator Smith says Minnesota should receive around $100 million to help expand access to broadband statewide and the goal is to have every single household in the state connected to high-speed Internet access. Ahead of the president’s visit, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller of Winona says “the runaway spending from the President and Congress on non-infrastructure related items is harming the economy by causing inflationary increases to everyday costs for Minnesotans. When we need to be coming together to get Minnesotans on track after two years of pandemic restrictions, this Washington spending spree is going to hit all Minnesotan’s pocketbooks even harder.” Miller says Biden’s visit comes as the nation is facing the worst inflation in 31 years, and Minnesotans are seeing large increases to fill up at the gas pump, heat their homes, buy groceries, and pay for everyday items.

Jury selection is set to begin today in the trial of former Brooklyn Center officer Kimberly Potter. Potter is charged with first-degree manslaughter in the April shooting death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Former U-S Attorney for Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger says there are some key differences in this case compared to the case of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, including: “Officer Chauvin wasn’t a particularly sympathetic defendant, officer Potter is a much more sympathetic defendant, she clearly was distraught after she realized what she had done.” Heffelfinger says the selection process will be similar to the process in the trial of former Officer Chauvin and “there’ll be a lot of time spent looking over the questionnaires and asking questions, I do expect this to take some significant time, I would be surprised if there was a jury selected before a week from today.” In that case, Chauvin was found guilty on all charges. The defense, in this case, contends Potter mistakenly drew her gun instead of her Taser during a traffic stop.

There will be extra law enforcement looking for impaired drivers on the state’s road from now through the end of the year. At a press conference today, Amanda Albrecht recounted how her family’s life has changed since Thanksgiving 2006 when her sister Breana was killed after getting behind the wheel while under the influence. Albrecht said, “Breana made one mistake that costed (sic) her life a couple months ago, and for the first time in 15 years, I was mad at her for the ongoing pain my family goes through.” Breana was weeks shy of her 20th birthday when she was killed in a drunk driving crash near Lake Elmo. Breana was going around 100 mph. She was intoxicated, not wearing her seat belt and texting at the time of the crash. Albrecht urged Minnesota drivers: “with the holidays coming up, there will be a lot of parties happening, there are so many options to get home safe these days, please don’t take a chance and if you see someone trying to leave after they’ve been drinking, please stop them, you could save lives.”
The Department of Public Safety says driving while impaired by any substance is illegal and drugged driving incidents are on the rise. During the last five years, 26 people died in drunk driving-related crashes during the holiday DWI extra enforcement period and one of every five deaths on Minnesota roads–or 21%–is drunk driving-related.