Media coalition files motion to unseal identities of jurors in Kimberly Potter trial

A media coalition filed a motion Friday seeking public release of the names of the jurors who last month convicted former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter of two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright.

The motion, filed by attorney Leita Walker, notes that the Potter jury was the third in three years to be seated anonymously by a Hennepin County district judge in a high-profile Minneapolis police brutality case, despite the legal presumption that juries are public.

In the Potter case, Judge Regina Chu sealed the identities of the jurors. Identities of jurors previously were sealed in the trials of former Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin and Mohamed Noor. Those jury lists were sealed, respectively, by Judges Peter Cahill and Kathryn Quaintance.

"That trend is troubling for an obvious reason: There is no basis in the law for treating a certain type of defendant categorically different (and with more secrecy) than all other defendants — certainly not when the category is comprised of former police officers whose prosecutions are of utmost public interest and concern," Walker wrote.

Walker said the recent decisions have normalized the "automatic sealing of juror names and other juror information" in cases involving former officers. Chu signed an order sealing juror identities in August for Potter's December trial.

Walker added that jurors can be anonymous only if "a strong reason exists to believe that the jury needs protection from external threats to its members' safety or impartiality" and that the court made detailed findings supporting the decision.

Even though the Potter trial didn't present the same "extraordinary circumstances" as the Chauvin trial, which entailed unprecedented security at the courthouse, Walker noted that Chu sealed the juror names.

In both prior cases, a similar coalition filed motions to release the identities. Cahill unsealed the Chauvin juror names in November, six months after the verdict. Quaintance unsealed the Noor juror names in August 2020, 18 months after the trial.

Now that the Potter trial is over, there is no strong reason to believe the jurors need protection to ensure their safety and impartiality in deliberations, Walker wrote: "Thus the sealing of their identities cannot be justified."

The motion seeks the immediate release of the names of both the jurors and prospective jurors, their questionnaires and the unredacted verdict forms.

Potter was convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Wright, 20, during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021, after he tried to flee while being arrested. She is in prison awaiting sentencing next month.

The Star Tribune is part of the media coalition seeking release of the names, along with the American Public Media Group, Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations, the Associated Press, CNN, CBS, Court TV, KMSP-TV, Gannett Satellite Information Network, Hubbard Broadcasting, the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, NBC, Sahan Journal, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, and the Washington Post.