CNN Legal Analyst Areva Martin Slams Potter Judge: Sentence a ‘Slap in the Face’ to Wright Family and African Americans
CNN legal analyst Areva Martin slammed the judge who sentenced former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer Kim Potter, who was convicted of both first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the 2021 traffic-stop fatal shooting of Daunte Wright.
On Friday, Hennepin County District Court Judge Regina Chu sentenced Potter, who served with the police department for 26 years, to two years in prison plus a $1,000 fine. Given the 58 days she has already served behind bars, Potter will serve 16 months in prison followed by serving the remainder of her sentence on supervised release.
Wright’s mother blasted the sentence.
“This is the problem with our justice system today. White women tears trumps, trumps justice,” said Katie Wright, referring to Potter crying and breaking down on the witness stand during the trial. “And I thought my White woman tears would be good enough because they’re true and genuine. But when they’re coerced, coached, and taught by the defense attorney, I guess we didn’t have a win in this at all.”
Appearing on CNN Newsroom, Martin called the sentence “a miscarriage of justice.”
I agree with the family. The judge went out of her way … to talk about the fact that this was not an intentional act on the part of Kim Potter. But manslaughter charges already taken into account that the conduct is not intentional and the state of Minnesota has already set the sentencing for manslaughter to be at the maximum 15 years … but the presumptive sentence to be between six and eight years.
So this whole notion that this wasn’t intentional really in some ways was a red herring because no one ever said this was an intentional act and the state assumed that non-intentional but reckless acts like these acts when you are convicted for manslaughter that you would serve that presumptive time, between six and eight years.
The judge also said that there would be no deterrent factor with respect to Kim Potter serving a lengthy jail sentence, but I think the judge got that wrong. Think about the other officers that could be impacted if this officer was forced to serve the sentence that we would expect to see for manslaughter conviction, manslaughter one and two.
And I think the family is right. We keep seeing this unequal justice system. If you’re a person of color, you are treated differently than non-people of color particularly if you’re African-American. So the family’s frustrated. I think this was a slap in the face to the family and to the African-American community that has been demanding equity and equality in our justice system.
Watch above, via CNN.
