Dershowitz: Former Officer Potter's Conviction is "Dangerous"

The  jury's conviction  of Minnesota police officer Kim Potter for the death of Daunte Wright, coupled with the judge's  denial of bail  pending her appeal, is a double injustice with dangerous implications for policing in America.  

Officer Potter, a decorated policewoman with more than two decades of service, simply did not commit a crime. The prosecution conceded that she did not intend to shoot Wright and that she made a mistake by pulling out and firing a gun instead of a Taser.  

Under American law, honest mistakes are not crimes - even if they result in tragic deaths. For example, an elderly driver accidentally putting a foot on the gas instead of the brake and killing a child is not necessarily a crime. It becomes a crime only if the action was reckless, involving a conscious decision to engage in conduct which the defendant knows poses a high risk of serious injury or death.  

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Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus for Harvard Law School, is the author of numerous books, including "The Case Against the New Censorship," and "The Case for Vaccine Mandates."