Today marks day two of testimony in the trial of Kim Potter, the former Brooklyn Center police officer charged with manslaughter in the death of Daute Wright during a traffic stop last spring in which she said she mistakenly used her gun rather than her taser.
Criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Jack Rice says in their opening statements, the defense tried to present to the jury what could be described as a fuller picture of what the officers knew when they approached the car for the second time.
"They came out swinging saying hold on a second, it's not just a Christmas tree and expired tabs. We've come to find out expired license. We come to find out he has no insurance. We come to find out he has a warrant. Not just any warrant, a warrant for a gun charge. What else? He has a no contact order. There's a woman in the car. Is that woman the person in the no contact order?"
Rice, speaking on the WCCO Morning News also says the defense took a necessary gamble to seemingly blame Wright for the shooting, saying that if he would have just cooperated, nothing would have happened.
But Rice notes that the prosecution had a strong day as well with emotional testimony from Daunte's mother and never before seen video from when she arrived on the scene for the first time, realizing that it was her son's body under the sheet. She knew it was him by recognizing his sneakers.