State of Minnesota v. Kimberly Potter

Minneapolis, Minnesota criminal defense lawyers represented Defendant charged with first and second-degree manslaughter.



Kimberly Potter, age 23, a former Brooklyn Center police officer, shot and killed Daunt Wright, age 20, on April 11, 2021, during a traffic stop. Potter claimed that she mistakenly grabbed her 9mm handgun rather than her taser when she shot and killed

Wright.



The State took the position that Potter acted recklessly and with "culpable negligence" in drawing the wrong weapon.



Potter was a 26-year veteran of the police department and was trained on the proper use of a taser.



Defendant pleaded not guilty.



Defendant claimed that Wright caused his own death by trying to flee from the police.

The jury of six men and six women found Potter guilty of second-degree manslaugher. The standard sentence for the more serious charge, first-degree manslaughter, is a little more than seven years in prison, and the maximum penalty is 15 years. She was sentenced to 2 years in prison.