Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been following the Kim Potter case since May of 2021 with these three articles:

04-14-21: Duante Wright: A Death Sentence?    

05-05-21: Babbit And Potter: Two Tiered Justice?  

01-25-22: Kim Potter: Running Risks 

In that second article I included this analysis from Law Of Self Defense guru Andrew Branca:

As the title of today’s content reveals, it’s my professional opinion that the conviction of Potter on charges of manslaughter is a blatant miscarriage of justice based on the fact that manslaughter in this case properly required proof beyond a reasonable doubt of reckless conduct, that reckless conduct in this case properly requires the conscious disregard by Potter of an unjustifiable risk of death or serious bodily injury to Daunte Wright, and that the jury was presented with exactly zero evidence that Potter consciously disregarded the risk that resulted in Wright’s death.

Indeed, it was uncontested throughout the trial that Potter never even knew she had a gun in her hand during her encounter with Wright, and one cannot consciously disregard a risk that one does not know exists.

By all means, take the link and learn why Judge Chu erred, and was unfit to conduct the trial.  I’ll have more on that shortly.  Former Officer Potter was immediately jailed upon conviction, just before Christmas, despite being no danger to the community and no flight risk.  She has now been sentenced, as The New York Post reports:

Judge Regina Chu

Ex-cop Kim Potter was sentenced to two years in prison Friday for killing 20-year-old Daunte Wright, shooting him when she thought she was firing her Taser. [skip]

‘This is one of the saddest cases I’ve had on my 20 years on the bench,’ Judge Regina Chu said Friday. ‘This is a cop who made a tragic mistake.’

Precisely.  What remains inexplicable is why Judge Chu, apparently understanding it was a mistake—a civil, not a criminal, matter–allowed a jury to wrongfully convict Potter.  Recognizing it as a mistake, she should have dismissed the charges. Recognizing it as a mistake, she should have known she had no business sentencing Potter to prison.

Potter, who was put into custody following the hearing, will be eligible for supervised release after 16 months in prison, Chu ruled.

As one might expect with Minnesota “justice,” the mob was exercised, as Fox News Reports:

Protesters gathered in Minneapolis on Friday evening after the sentencing of former Minnesota police Officer Kim Potter to two years in prison in the April 2021 shooting death of Daunte Wright, according to reports.

In addition, reports were emerging on social media that looting was underway at stores in Brooklyn Center, the Minneapolis suburb where Potter worked and where the death of Wright occurred.

Brooklyn Center police confirmed that only a beauty supply store had been looted, but also said they’d received reports that other stores may have been struck as well, according to WCCO-TV of Minneapolis.

Around 100 protesters, some on foot and others in their vehicles, gathered outside the Hennepin County Government Center following the Potter sentencing and marched to the Loring Park neighborhood, where they stopped outside a condominium building that was said to be the home of Judge Regina Chu, who presided over the Potter case, FOX 9 of Minneapolis reported.

Short of the death penalty, there was no way the usual suspects would not protest the “injustice” of convicting an innocent woman for an innocent mistake.  The usual MSNBC suspects were, as always, quite insane:

MSNBC regular and The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal said Friday on ‘The ReidOut’ that former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter being sentenced to two years for the Daunte Wright’s manslaughter conviction showed that America hates black people.

Addressing host Joy Reid, Mystal said, ‘Joy, this country hates us. This country hates black people, and we know it. We talk about it. We joke about it. We know what we’re up against. But sometimes that hatred that this country has for us really comes out and just takes your breath away, just grabs you by the neck and takes your breath away.’

Before we go further, gentle readers, let’s see an excerpt from an Ann Coulter column about the nature of the latest holy social justice martyr, Duante Wright:

Daunte Wright is the half-black man fatally shot by a police officer in Minnesota earlier this year. According to Nexis, he has appeared in well over 100 articles in the Times. But one thing Times readers will never be told is that Wright was facing criminal charges for trying to choke a woman to death while robbing her at gunpoint.

They will also never hear about the lawsuit accusing Wright and an accomplice of shooting a guy during a carjacking.

In a bold departure from customary practice, the Times did make two passing references to another lawsuit claiming Wright shot a guy in the head, permanently disabling him, but in both cases, quickly added: “The lawsuit offers no direct evidence tying Mr. Wright to the shooting.’

And those are just the crimes he’s accused of committing lately, during the brief year and a half since he turned 18 and was no longer treated as a juvenile.

Like George Floyd, Duante Wright was a felon, and in violently resisting arrest and trying to escape—both felonies—he caused his own death.  The traffic stop of Wright was entirely lawful—backed by more than enough probable cause—and he was wanted on an active felony warrant for armed robbery.

While Judge Chu could have imposed a sentence of up to seven years—the prosecution demanded it—she settled for two years, but why?  I suspect she realized, because a great many far better lawyers and jurists than she, took her to task for her incompetence and bias, for allowing Potter’s conviction without the elements necessary to prove the crime, she made a grievous mistake that destroyed the life of an innocent police officer.  Yes, innocent.  Kim Potter made a mistake, which is, at most, a civil matter.  She is innocent of committing any crime.

Judge Chu is not sufficiently honorable to correct her error, and realizing that even Minnesota’s courts of appeal might overturn her, she’s seeking to minimize the damage to her reputation.  It’s unlikely, in the current racial climate, that any Minnesota court would overturn the conviction.  Potter has the very great handicap of, while white, shooting a black felon.  But it’s much more likely a higher court will overturn the conviction.

Sadly, by that time, Kim Potter will likely have served her sentence.  As I noted in previous articles, unless great care is taken on a daily basis, any jail sentence for a police officer is a death sentence.

This case, as well as the George Floyd case, should convince any Minnesota police officer, particularly any working in Minneapolis, St. Paul or any town anywhere near the Twin Cities, to flee the state as quickly as possible.  With a black, woke lunatic as state Attorney General, any white police officer who lawfully, or by honest error, shoots a black felon is going to be charged with as many crimes as possible even though no charges should be brought.  It’s clearly impossible for any police officer to get a fair trial in Minnesota.  Worse, this verdict will help convince young people considering a police career that just about any career would be safer to their lives, liberty and fortunes.

In reality, given the circumstances, Kim Potter was justified in shooting Wright, and that evidence was presented at trial.  However, Judge Chu gave the jury faulty instructions and let them argue over the law rather than the facts, which, with a Minnesota jury, ensured a wrongful conviction.  Take the links to both previous articles for more information.  There you’ll discover Kim Potter was railroaded from the start.

I’ll continue to report on this case as developments warrant.  In the meantime, pray for Kim Potter and her family.  Even without a conviction, the process is the punishment.  The prosecutors and the Judge know that all too well.