Kim Potter: Former Minnesota police officer will be sentenced for Daunte Wright’s death today

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison asked Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu to impose the presumptive sentence of 86 months, or seven years and two months, in a sentencing memo filed Tuesday. That sentence, he wrote, would reflect the “seriousness of the loss of (Wright’s) life” as well as Potter’s “culpability” in causing Wright’s death.

Potter’s attorneys have argued for a lesser sentence, pointing in their own filings to her lack of a criminal record as well as her “evident contrition.” Potter had apologized to Wright’s family, her attorneys wrote, and she planned to do so again at her sentencing Friday.

Under Minnesota law, an offender convicted of two or more charges from the same act is sentenced on their most serious conviction. The maximum penalty for first-degree manslaughter predicated on reckless use/handling of a firearm is 15 years in prison and/or a $30,000 fine.

However, under the state’s sentencing guidelines, a judge has discretion to sentence convicted offenders with no prior criminal history, like Potter, to between roughly six and eight and a half years in prison.

Potter will be required to serve two-thirds of her sentence in prison, according to state law. With good behavior, she could be eligible for supervised release for the remainder.

Potter has been incarcerated since her conviction at a correctional facility in Shakopee, about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis, according to records from the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Officer said she mistook her gun for Taser

“Holy sh*t! I just shot him,” she said, per the video, adding, “I grabbed the wrong f**king gun, and I shot him.”

Potter resigned from the police department days later.

“Accidents can still be crimes if they occur because of recklessness or culpable negligence,” Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Erin Eldrige said in her closing argument. “It’s not a defense to the crimes charged.”

Potter’s attorney Earl Gray argued the former officer was within her rights to use deadly force to protect a fellow officer, who was reaching into the vehicle when Wright attempted to drive away.

“I was very distraught. I just shot somebody. I’m sorry it happened,” she said after a prosecutor asked about her behavior following the shooting. “I’m so sorry.”

The jury ultimately found Potter guilty after deliberating for about 27 hours.