Jury selection in the manslaughter trial for Kimberly Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, began on Tuesday morning (Nov. 30).
According to Reuters, Hennepin County District Court Judge Regina Chu began the jury selection process by questioning the potential jurors about basic questions regarding their health and whether they could follow the law as directed. “Our sole purpose and our obligation is to ensure that the jurors who decide this case are neutral, open-minded and fair,” Chu told the potential jurors. “Your verdict must be based on the evidence you hear during the trial.”
Back in April, Potter fatally shot 20-year-old Wright, a Black man, during a traffic stop. He was reportedly pulled over because he had an expired registration on his vehicle. Authorities discovered that there was an outstanding warrant for Wright and attempted to handcuff and arrest him, but he got back into his vehicle and reportedly tried to flee the scene.
Potter, who was a previous president of the union, deployed her firearm and shot Wright in the chest. She said that she meant to shoot her taser instead of her gun.
She was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter, however, back in September, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed an amended complaint to add a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
The revised charge claims that the ex-cop caused Wright’s death “while committing the misdemeanor offense of reckless handling or use of a firearm so as to endanger the safety of another with such force and violence that death or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable.”
On Tuesday, Potter’s defense team revealed that she will testify during the trial.