Eight of 12 jurors seated by lunchtime on day 2 of trial of Kim Potter, former Minnesota cop who shot Daunte Wright
Jury selection in the trial of Kim Potter, the former police officer who gunned down Daunte Wright in April thinking she was wielding her Taser, went swiftly enough on Wednesday that Judge Regina Chu discussed starting the trial earlier than originally planned.
Four more jurors were seated by lunchtime, bringing the total sworn in to eight. Twelve jurors plus two alternates till ultimately be chosen.
About 200 potential jurors had previously answered a questionnaire, and those who made it into the courtroom for additional questioning were grilled on both their answers to that, and probed for opinions on how much they knew of the case going in, and on whether that would affect their assessment of the evidence.
They were also asked to elaborate on their earlier answers, which vetted them for everything from attitudes toward police, to their views on protests and policing in the Minneapolis area in recent years.
Several discussions touched on the use of Tasers, as some of the jurors seated said they owned one. Attorneys wanted to know their familiarity with the weapon, why they had owned it and whether they had ever used it.
Of those sworn in on Wednesday, one was a recent college grad; another was a mother of two who owned a Taser for personal protection, though she had never had to use it; the third was a man who had served on a jury 10 years earlier, and whose brother works in law enforcement for the commerce department, and the fourth was a man studying to be a nurse practitioner who said his wife’s service as a law clerk more than 30 years ago would not influence his assessment of the evidence.
Jurors sworn in on the first day of the trial included an overnight operations manager at a Target distribution center and rock band bass player, 29; a special-education teacher and mother of four grown daughters, one of whom had recently died of breast cancer; a medical editor in his 60s who doesn’t approve of the “Blue Lives Matter” credo but does not support defunding the police, and a woman whose occupation was not given but who described herself as a “rule follower” who would adhere to the instructions given in court, and who felt that police officers should be respected.
Potter, 49, faces first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in the April 11 shooting of Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Potter, who is white, said she thought she was wielding her Taser when she fired as Wright tried to flee in his car.
