Daunte Wright’s aunt called former cop Kim Potter’s conviction “bittersweet,” especially ahead of the Christmas holiday. As reported by REVOLT, Potter was found guilty of both first- and second-degree manslaughter on Thursday (Dec. 23) in the killing of 20-year-old Daunte.
“It’s bittersweet still, you know, because Daunte is not here and tomorrow is Christmas,” his aunt Naisha Wright told NPR on Friday (Dec. 24), adding that “what we’ll be able to look at is his urn on top of the fireplace.”
“[It was] very emotional, very emotional,” she said about Potter’s conviction. “[We’re] happy that, you know, there were guilty charges. But it’s very, very emotional because, again, he’s not here.”
Naisha also said that Potter’s conviction is not justice for her family, as “justice would have been if we could have got [Daunte] back.”
“We at least feel happy that there was some accountability. But justice? If we could change the system, that’s justice,” she added.
Daunte’s mother Katie Bryant echoed the sentiment on Thursday, saying she felt “every single emotion that you could imagine” when she heard the jury’s guilty verdict. “I kind of let out a yelp because it was built up in the anticipation of what was to come.”
Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center police department, fatally shot Daunte during a traffic stop in April when she mistook her handgun for a Taser.
The former cop is set to be sentenced for her first- and second-degree manslaughter convictions on Feb. 18. State guidelines recommend a seven-year prison sentence for the first-degree manslaughter charge and fours years for the second-degree charge, but prosecutors said they will ask for a longer sentence.
Daunte left behind an infant son who his aunt says “will know everything.”
“Daunte Jr. will know who his father was,” Naisha told NPR. “He’s a part of history. So Daunte Jr. will know everything. That beautiful smile his father had. The excitement that his father had when he was born. Everything.”