Nathan Layne

(Reuters). A Minnesota jury found Kimberly Potter, a former officer in police force, guilty of manslaughter after she shot Daunte Wayne fatally with her pistol during a traffic stop.

Potter, 49 was found guilty by a 12-member jury of manslaughter and first-degree murder in Wright’s death. Wright was 20 years old when she shot herself in the chest in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis.

Brooklyn Center saw a number nightly demonstrations after the shooting. It took place only a few blocks north of the spot where Derek Chauvin was, an ex-police officer from Minneapolis, was also being trial for murdering George Floyd. Floyd’s 2020 arrest in Minneapolis had triggered protests throughout America about police brutality, racism, and police cruelty.

Chauvin was convicted for murder. Both Chauvin and Potter are both white.

The incident’s basic facts were not challenged by Potter’s body-worn cam. Both the defense lawyers and prosecutors agreed that Potter had mistakenly drawn the wrong weapon, and Wright was not intended to be killed.

The jury was asked to decide whether she would be found recklessly in violation of state manslaughter statutes or if the jury would consider the incident a tragedy that didn’t warrant criminal prosecution.

Prosecutors emphasized Potter’s 26-years of police experience throughout the trial. They said that this made Potter’s mistake impossible to defend. She denied her Taser training and claimed she took an unreasonable and conscious risk by using any weapon against Wright.

Potter’s lawyers tried to accuse Wright of resisting arrest. They argued that it had caused a dangerous environment and justified her use force. They acknowledged that she made a mistake but said she wasn’t guilty because she assumed she was using her Taser, and she didn’t know she had pulled her handgun.

A psychologist Dr. Laurence Miller testified that “action error” is when one person does something and then intends to do the opposite. Miller claimed that these mistakes are quite common, and they can also be triggered by stress.

According to Minnesota law, to get a conviction for the first-degree manslaughter offense, the prosecution had to show beyond reasonable doubt that Potter caused Wright’s death and committed the misdemeanor offense, recklessly using firearms. To convict Potter for second degree manslaughter she had to prove that Potter created an unreasonable danger and was consciously taking the chance of Wright suffering serious bodily injury or death.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne from Wilton, Connecticut; Editing By Alistair Bell