Quote (Goomshill @ Dec 23 2021 03:30pm)
So to review for the people who don't understand the law:
Committing an unconscious mistake that results in death is not manslaughter unless you made prior decisions that directly created the risks.
If you make a driving mistake and kill someone, its not criminal if you had been obeying all the laws, driving cautiously and responsibly up until the moment of that unconscious mistake.
If you were on your phone, or drinking and driving, or speeding, or running red lights- it means you made the conscious decision to engage in reckless behavior that created the risks of the mistake, thus the unconscious mistake is manslaughter.
Mens rea has to exist for it to be a crime, but mens rea doesn't have to be the intention to kill someone- that would make it murder.
For the state to convict Kim Potter of 1st degree manslaughter required them to prove that she killed Daunte Wright in the commission of a serious crime. They charged that her decision to use a taser constituted assault, and thus it didn't matter that the fact she used a gun instead was an unconscious decision without intent, what mattered is that by deciding to use a taser on Daunte Wright in the first place, she was committing a serious crime, and thus the unintentional death of the victim of her serious crime constituted 1st degree manslaughter.
So understand that difference. The state proved to a jury that Kim Potter was illegally trying to use a taser, and that even if she had used the Taser as she intended and Daunte Wright was never killed, she should still have been convicted of aggravated assault and battery and sent to prison for years. Defense counsel Earl Grey provided a very poor defense for this where he tried to explain these matters of fact and law, tried to put out the logical holes and catch 22's in the state's arguments and their use of prejudicial evidence. He gave his speeches like his audience were law students. The prosecutors got up and put on displays of emotional family members with nothing material to the case, just crying, then made their arguments about how cops can't be trusted, cops stick up for each other, cops are lying bastards, all cops are bastards, etc. A very blunt use of naked prejudice by the prosecutors, counting on a jury of randomly selected Hennepin County residents to live up to their reputation as the most prejudiced, anti-cop county in America. As long as Kim Potter was wearing a uniform, they'd convict her of anything the prosecutors slapped at her
Undoubtedly. I'm actually surprised that she was convicted on both charges. Until we have robots as jury members though, a good lawyer needs to know how to read a jury and sell the argument to them. If I were her, I would have gotten a black defense attorney.