Jurors' names were being withheld and they were not shown on the livestream of the trial. That man also said of Wright: “I think if he would’ve listened to the (police) directions, he would still be with us." The Target employee was seated despite saying he has somewhat of a distrust of police, though he added: "I do recognize that it’s a very hard job … and it’s not something I could do myself.”Īmong the potential jurors dismissed was a woman who said on her questionnaire that Potter should have known the difference between her gun and her Taser and a man who described Black Lives Matter as “Marxist Communist." Asked if she could be fair, the woman said yes and added: “I’m a retired teacher and one of my students told me one time that I’m strict-fair.”
The former teacher said she is a mother of four adult daughters, including one she lost to breast cancer nearly two years ago. I don’t agree with that message and I don’t agree with the approach that was taken to defund the police.”Īlso seated Tuesday was a retired special education teacher and a bass player in a rock band who works as an operations manager at Target. "But I think defund the police sends a message, a negative message. “I absolutely believe there’s a need for change," he said. He said he believes it’s less about supporting police than about countering the Black Lives Matter movement.īut he also said he opposes the movement to abolish or defund the police. The first juror to be seated Tuesday, a man who said he is a medical editor, said he has a very unfavorable view of the “blue lives matter” slogan that has emerged in recent years. Roughly 200 people were asked what they knew about the Potter case, their impressions of her and Wright, and their views on protests and policing in the Minneapolis area in recent years.
The prospective jurors summoned Tuesday had already responded to questionnaires similar to those used in Chauvin’s murder trial. Wright’s death sparked several nights of protests in Brooklyn Center and revived painful memories of the sometimes violent unrest that erupted after Floyd’s death in May 2020.
She shot Wright as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center on April 11 - a time when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial was underway for the killing of George Floyd and tensions were high in the area. Potter is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter. “I think (you) should be quite interested in hearing what she had to say.” “Officer Potter will testify and tell you what she remembers happened, so you will know not just from the video but from the officers at the scene and Officer Potter herself what was occurring,” Engh said. This booking photo shows Kim Potter, a former Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer.