MINNEAPOLIS – The state attorney general’s office will lead the prosecution of Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter for the death of Daunte Wright. Attorney General Keith Ellison said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank, who manages the office’s criminal division, will supervise the case. Frank was one of the trial attorneys in the earlier case against Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. Ellison said he will actively assist in the case. Hennepin County prosecutor Freeman’s office will also provide support, Ellison said.
Hot potato prosecution
The death of Daunte Wright, a black man, was in Brooklyn Center which is in Hennepin County. Under an agreement among metro prosecutors to take other’s cases involving police officers, the prosecution went to Peter Orput in Washington County. Orput charged Potter with manslaughter. Activists mounted intense pressure against Orput, suggesting that Potter, who is white, bas being treated too leniently. There were demonstrations outside Orput’s home. Orput defended the manslaughter charge but begged off the case. That put the case back in the lap of Hennepin County prosecutor Mike Freeman, who asked Ellison to takeover.
Frank. To head prosecution of police officer Kim Potter in the shooting of Daunte Wright in April in Brooklyn Center.