Potter’s attorneys countered that Wright, who was trying to get away from officers as they sought to handcuff him for an impressive warrant on a weapons cost, “brought on the entire incident.”
Potter, who’s white, is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter. If convicted of essentially the most severe cost, Potter, 49, would face a sentence of about seven years underneath state pointers, although prosecutors have mentioned they are going to search extra.
The mostly white jury received the case after a couple of week and a half of testimony about an arrest that went awry, setting off indignant protests in Brooklyn Middle simply as close by Minneapolis was on edge over Derek Chauvin’s trial in George Floyd’s death. Potter resigned two days after Wright’s loss of life.
Prosecutor Erin Eldridge referred to as Wright’s loss of life “solely preventable. Completely avoidable.” She urged the jury to not excuse it as a mistake: “Accidents can nonetheless be crimes in the event that they happen because of reckless or culpable negligence.”
“She drew a lethal weapon,” Eldridge mentioned. “She aimed it. She pointed it at Daunte Wright’s chest, and he or she fired.”
Potter’s legal professional Earl Grey argued that Wright was guilty for attempting to flee from police. Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun as an alternative of her Taser as a result of the visitors cease “was chaos,” he mentioned.
“Daunte Wright brought on his personal loss of life, sadly,” he mentioned. He additionally argued that taking pictures Wright wasn’t against the law.
“Within the stroll of life, no one’s excellent. All people makes errors,” Grey mentioned. “My gosh, a mistake will not be against the law. It simply isn’t in our freedom-loving nation.”
Potter testified Friday that she “didn’t wish to harm anyone” and that she was “sorry it occurred.”
Eldridge mentioned the case wasn’t about whether or not Potter was sorry.
“In fact she feels unhealthy about what she did. … However that has no place in your deliberations,” she mentioned.
Taking part in Potter’s physique digicam video body by body, Eldridge sought to lift doubts about Potter’s testimony that she fired after seeing “worry” on the face of one other officer, then-Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was leaning into the automobile’s passenger-side door and attempting to handcuff Wright.
The protection has argued that Johnson was vulnerable to being dragged and that Potter would have been justified in utilizing lethal drive. However Eldridge identified that for a lot of the interplay Potter was behind a 3rd officer, whom she was coaching, and that Johnson didn’t come into her digicam’s view till after the shot was fired — after which it confirmed the highest of his head as he backed away.
“Sgt. Johnson was clearly not afraid of being dragged,” Eldridge mentioned. “He by no means mentioned he was scared. He didn’t say it then, and he didn’t testify to it in court docket.”
Eldridge additionally famous that Potter put different individuals in danger when she fired her gun, highlighting that the third officer was so near the taking pictures {that a} cartridge casing bounced off his face.
“Members of the jury, protected dealing with of a firearm doesn’t embrace firing it right into a automobile with 4 individuals straight in hurt’s means,” she mentioned.
Grey began his closing argument by attacking Eldridge’s summation, highlighting how she had performed slowed-down depictions of occasions that Potter noticed in actual time.
“Taking part in the video not on the proper velocity the place it confirmed chaos, taking part in it as sluggish as attainable … that’s the rabbit gap of misdirection,” Grey mentioned. He additionally famous that Potter’s physique digicam was mounted on her chest and gave a barely totally different perspective than her personal imaginative and prescient.
Decide Regina Chu instructed jurors that intent will not be a part of the costs and that the state doesn’t need to show she tried to kill Wright.
The decide mentioned for first-degree manslaughter, prosecutors should show that Potter brought on Wright’s loss of life whereas committing the crime of reckless dealing with of a firearm. This implies they have to show that she dedicated a acutely aware or intentional act whereas dealing with or utilizing a firearm that creates a considerable or unjustifiable danger that she was conscious of and disregarded, and that she endangered security.
For second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors should show she acted with culpable negligence, that means she consciously took an opportunity of inflicting loss of life or nice bodily hurt.