Katie Bryant, the mother of Daunte Wright, said she felt a lot of “emotions” when she heard the guilty verdict of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter being read.
“The moment that we heard ‘guilty‘ on manslaughter 1, emotions — every single emotion that you could imagine — just running through your body at that moment,” Bryant said at a press conference on Thursday (Dec. 23). “I kind of let out a yelp because it was built up in the anticipation of what was to come while we were waiting for the last few days.”
Bryant went on to praise the prosecution and thank everyone for their support. “We want to thank the entire prosecution team,” she said. “We want to thank community support, everybody who has been out there that has supported us in this long fight for accountability.”
As REVOLT previously reported, Potter was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter charges. A predominately white jury deliberated for about 27 hours over the course of four days after hearing closing arguments from both sides.
The former Brooklyn Center police officer previously pleaded not guilty to the charges after saying that she mistakenly used her firearm instead of her taser. During the trial, she took the stand and told jurors that she “didn’t want to hurt anybody.” Potter testified that she remembered “yelling, ‘Taser, taser, taser,’ and nothing happened, and then he told me I shot him.”
Potter’s sentencing is scheduled to take place in February. According to The New York Times, the typical sentence range for first-degree manslaughter is between about six to eight and a half years in prison and the maximum sentence is 15 years. Potter’s lawyers are likely to ask for a sentence that is below the standard range, while prosecutors will presumably ask Judge Regina Chu to hand down a harsher prison term.