Kim Potter, former Brooklyn Center police officer, is on trial for the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Potter claims she intended to use her Taser when she instead fired her handgun on Wright during a traffic stop.
Last week, psychologist Dr. Laurence Miller testified for the defense describing how ‘action errors’ play a role in daily mistakes.
“In an action error, there is a sequence of responses in which an intended action has an unintended effect … [it] does not have to do with outside interference, willful neglect or conscious manipulation,” Miller said.
In a recent interview on Court TV, Denver defense lawyer Jeffrey Wolf discussed the use of expert witnesses and how unique it is to see someone like Miller testifying on behalf of the defense.
“This is a very rare case where this type of expert testimony is coming from the defense,” explained Wolf. “These experts have been around for decades, but law enforcement is usually on the other side. The prosecution has been banging the drum for experts like this guy for decades. And it just so happens that there’s a sea change in the country, and now these experts find themselves on the defense side. Yes, I am a defense attorney, but I am as angry at these experts testifying for the defense as I have been for them testifying for the prosecution my entire career. Because I know they’re junk science, they know they’re junk science, law enforcement knows they’re junk science, and quite frankly, the judge knows they’re junk science too, but everybody’s afraid to say it…”
Watch the video for details about the defense’s expert testimony and for more commentary from Court TV correspondent Jeff Wolf.
