Outcome reached in Kim Potter trial over Daunte Wright's death

Kim Potter is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter.

ByKiara Alfonseca
Last Updated: December 23, 2021, 6:41 PM EST

The trial of former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter charged in the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop, continues with Potter taking the stand to testify in her own defense.

Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 incident. She has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

PHOTO: A screen grab from police video which shows the traffic stop during which Daunte Wright is fatally shot by Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter (not visible in this frame) in Minneapolis, Dec. 8, 2021.
A screen grab from police video which shows the traffic stop during which Daunte Wright is fatally shot by Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter (not visible in this frame) is shown as evidence during the opening statements in the trial of Potter in the April 11, 2021 death of Wright in Minneapolis, Dec. 8, 2021.
Court TV via AP, Pool
PHOTO: Signs stand on the south lawn, Nov. 30, 2021, at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis where jury selection begins for former police officer Kim Potter, who shot and killed motorist Daunte Wright.
Signs stand on the south lawn, Nov. 30, 2021, at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis where jury selection begins for former suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter, who says she meant to grab her Taser instead of her handgun when she shot and killed motorist Daunte Wright.
Jim Mone/AP

The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine and for second-degree manslaughter, it's 10 years and a $20,000 fine.

Wright's death reignited protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S., as the killing took place just outside of Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was taking place.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 08, 2021, 10:56 AM EST

Daunte Wright's family enters courtroom 

Daunte Wright's siblings -- Damik, Diamond and Dallas -- have arrived at the Hennepin County Government Center ahead of opening statements. 

Damik Wright and Diamond Wright siblings of Daunte Wright, arrive at the Hennepin County Government Center for opening statements in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, Dec. 8, 2021 in Minneapolis.
Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

 

Daunte's family wants him to be remembered not through the tragedy of his death, but as a brother, son and father who was close with his family.  

"On Thanksgiving, we sat there and we watched so many videos of my nephew," Wright's aunt Naisha Wright said tearfully in a past interview with ABC News. "It was just such a beautiful thing, because everybody had a memory of him either cracking jokes or trying to dance -- because he could not dance, but he tried."

She added: "He just had his whole life taken away from him. We had our hearts pulled out of our chests. He was my baby."

Dallas Bryant, right, brother of Daunte Wright, arrives with family at the Hennepin County Government Center, Dec. 8, 2021 in Minneapolis.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Dec 08, 2021, 10:13 AM EST

Names prominent in the trial

The state is expected to deliver its opening statement first, represented by Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank.

Judge Chu will call the case, and hand it to the prosecution. Depending on how long each side takes, it is entirely possible the state call its first witness today also.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

Dec 08, 2021, 11:11 AM EST

A look at the jury as trial begins

Opening statements in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter will begin Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET at the Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis.

Proceedings will take place in the same courtroom where Derek Chauvin was convicted in the murder of George Floyd.

Potter, 49, is charged with felony first- and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. She has pleaded not guilty.

Potter was first indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge, which alleges that she acted with "culpable negligence" in Wright's death. A first-degree manslaughter count was later added. Prosecutors say that Potter caused Wright's death while recklessly handling a gun, causing the death to be reasonably foreseeable.

Potter's jury is less diverse than the one that decided Chauvin's case: nine of the 12 deliberating jurors are white, alongside one Black juror, and two Asian jurors. The two alternate jurors are also white.

The deliberating jury is 75% white -- which is aligned with the racial demographics of Hennepin County, according to Census information.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik