Former suburban Minneapolis officer Kim Potter sentenced to 2 years in prison for killing Daunte Wri

[Jedi Guy]

24. A lot of considerations are taken into account during sentencing.

Prior criminal history, intent to cause harm, likelihood of committing future offenses, and remorse, among other things. All of those things were going in Potter's favor in this particular instance, though "remorse" really is impossible to weigh objectively. Some will say she's genuinely remorseful for killing Wright, while others will say she's only remorseful about the impact it's had and will have on her own life. Ultimately, the only person who truly knows whether and why she's remorseful is Potter herself.

All that said, though, two years is an incredibly generous and lenient sentence. Under state law, someone convicted of more than one crime for the same act is sentenced on the more/most serious offense, so Potter was looking at a maximum of 15 years and/or a $30,000 fine. So two years is just way, way on the low side.

I don't think Potter intended to kill Wright and I'm generally a lot more sympathetic to law enforcement than most people here on DU, but even so... two years? I feel like the state's request of seven years was reasonable, and even five would have been somewhat fair to all concerned. But two years just doesn't make a lot of sense.