The Conviction Of Kim Potter

Thursday afternoon, former Minnesota police officer Kimberly Potter was convicted of the manslaughter of Daunte Wright. Like the actual shooting on April 11 last year, the entire trial including the verdict can be found on YouTube; it was covered by many channels and will continue to be. The verdict was handed down in real time; Potter was found guilty of both first degree and second degree manslaughter, which sounds absurd, but this is the way the American legal system operates.

The jury deliberated for 27 hours over a four day period, an inordinately long time for a relatively simple decision. No doubt some of the jurors wanted to acquit Potter but were intimidated by the crowds outside the court building. There have been protests about this case not simply in Minnesota but nationwide, and one man was arrested for attempting to intimidate the judge, something that can never be tolerated. Convicted felon Cortez Wright is now behind bars.

After Potter’s conviction, Judge Regina Chu heard arguments from both the State and the Defense then remanded her in custody. The State is expected to ask for the maximum sentence, which clearly Potter does not deserve. It is though possible both to feel sorry for Potter and recognise that she needs to serve some hard time. One of the first people to comment on this case was Alan Dershowitz who said that Potter had clearly made a mistake when she drew her gun thinking it was her taser. There is no need to doubt her good faith, but of course if she were exonerated, the next police officer who shoots a suspect without a stellar reason could make the same claim. The police need to be held to account, but although it is tempting to feel sorry for them after the battering they have taken following the death of George Floyd and the mindless, wanton destruction coupled with chants of “defund the police” that followed, there is still much work to be done.

The reason, the only reason, the death of Daunte Wright attracted so much publicity is because he was black while Potter is white. How many people could name one totally innocent white person who has been killed, even murdered by the American police? On August 11, 2014, Dillon Taylor was shot dead in Salt Lake City, shot in the back, ie murdered. His “crime” was that he was wearing headphones as he walked in the opposite direction so couldn’t hear the commands shouted at him. The killer wasn’t even charged, and a civil suit by the victim’s family was dismissed. Dillon Taylor was the same age as Daunte Wright. The murder of Dillon Taylor was an extreme case, but there are plenty more that likewise beggar belief as well as acts of sickening brutality like the manhandling of 73 year old dementia sufferer Karen Garner.

There is one other factor in the Kim Potter case that needs to be mentioned, namely, it isn’t only the police who need to be held to account. At the time he was shot, Wright was subject to arrest on an outstanding warrant. This article gives some background on him; clearly he shouldn’t have been on the street. If the criminal justice system in blue states hadn’t been hijacked by so-called progressives, Wright would have been behind bars in April last year and alive today.