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Kim Potter, the former police officer convicted in the death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April 2021, was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Friday.
Judge Regina Chu handed down a sentence of 24 months, with 16 months served in prison. The rest of the sentence will be served under supervised release. Potter must also pay a $1,000 fine.
In December, a jury found Potter, who worked for the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota, guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter.
During the trial, Potter's team alleged Wright was responsible for his own death. To refresh your memory: Authorities said they pulled Wright over for using an illegal air freshener and then discovered he had an outstanding warrant. Wright tried to drive off as the officers attempted to arrest him, at which point Potter shot and killed him. She testified that she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her Taser.
Defense attorney Earl Gray told the court that Wright "caused his own death." But the jury didn’t buy it.
Potter’s defense team requested she be given a light sentence, possibly only probation. But prosecutors said her deadly actions warranted a more stringent punishment. The state requested Potter be given 86 months of prison time, the presumptive sentence for offenders who, like Potter, haven’t previously committed a crime.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote in a sentencing memo filed on Tuesday that imposing a lighter sentence -- as Chu did -- “would fail to take into account Daunte Wright’s death and the jury’s finding that Defendant Potter committed first-degree manslaughter.”
Speaking in court on Friday, Wright's mother said Potter "took my baby boy with a single gunshot through his heart, and shattered mine.”
Nonetheless, Chu showed an extreme level of passion toward Potter during her sentencing announcement, which appeared to outweigh her empathy for Wright’s family. She claimed Potter’s conduct was “significantly less serious than your typical manslaughter case” and said the former police officer “does not require habilitation” despite killing Wright. She even cried after delivering the sentence, which fell far below Minnesota's sentencing guidelines.
“Officer Potter made a mistake that ended tragically," Chu said through tears. "She never intended to hurt anyone."
She even quoted former President Barack Obama while arguing that Potter deserves sympathy.
The quote she tearfully read says, “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes — that’s how peace begins.”
Lawyers representing Wright's family denounced Chu's "absence of compassion" for Daunte Wright.
Potter’s conviction was unusual given the documented history of police officers in the U.S. evading punishment for inflicting violence on Black victims. Yet, although the jury in her case was unwilling to accept her pretense for violence, she found a judge who would — and that privilege served Potter mightily. That is America's inequitable justice system at work, equipped with escape hatches that allow even the convicted to elude accountability.
The problem of anti-Black police brutality existed before Potter, and light sentences like the one she received ensure the problem will persist well beyond her conviction as well.