(NewsNation Now) — Jurors on Thursday convicted a suburban Minneapolis police officer of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her Taser.
Criminal defense attorney Bernarda Villalona weighed in on the Kim Potter trial verdict in an appearance on “Morning in America”
“The jury has spoken,” Villalona said about the guilty verdict for first-degree manslaughter. “The jury found that Kim Potter in her position, despite her 26 years experience and 19 years of carrying that Taser on her left-hand side, that she created a substantial and unjustifiable risk of bodily injury and death.”
Regarding the guilty verdict for manslaughter in the second degree, Villalona said the jury found that, “She’s culpably negligent for her actions, and that she created an unreasonable risk, and she should have known she was creating an unreasonable risk.”
Potter is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 18.
Under Minnesota statutes, Potter, who is white, will be sentenced only on the most serious charge of first-degree manslaughter. That’s because both of the charges against her stem from one act, with one victim.
The maximum for that charge is 15 years. But state sentencing guidelines call for much less. For someone with no criminal history, such as Potter, the guidelines range from just more than six years to about 8 1/2 years, with the presumptive sentence being slightly over seven years.
“Here you have the prosecution that’s going to request an upward departure, meaning that even though the presumptive sentence is probably eight years, they want something that is higher based on the aggravating factors that came out of abuse or position of authority,” Villalona said.
“The defense said that they are going to follow this positional downward departure request to the judge, where they’re even going to request some sentence of probation,” she added. “They don’t believe that she should be serving a prison sentence.”
Potter was taken into custody pending sentencing.
“The purpose of sentencing is punishment, rehabilitation and deterrence,” Villalona said. “The first step in acceptance of rehabilitation is acceptance of responsibility. And you don’t have that here. So I can see definitely Judge Chu is going to sentence her to a prison term of at least eight years.”
“Especially since she (Chu) gave us some insight yesterday,” Villalona added, “when she told the defense that the presumptive sentence is jail. So she’s not thinking about probation. And she’s not looking to treat Kim Potter differently than anyone else.
Watch the full interview with attorney Bernarda Villalona in the video player at the top of the story.
