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Author: Andrew Branca

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Andrew Branca

Andrew F. Branca is in his third decade of practicing law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He wrote the first edition of the "Law of Self Defense" in 1997, and is currently in the process of completing the fully revised and updated second edition, which you can preorder now at lawofselfdefense.com. He began his competitive shooting activities as a youth in smallbore rifle, and today is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a Life Member and Master-class competitor in multiple classifications in the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA). Andrew has for many years been an NRA-certified firearms instructor in pistol, rifle, and personal protection, and has previously served as an Adjunct Instructor on the Law of Self Defense at the SigSauer Academy in Epping, NH. He holds or has held concealed carry permits for Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Florida, Utah, Virginia, and other states.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 13, 2021 30 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Daunte Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 10, 2021 35 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today was the third day of the trial proper, and although today the State worked through three more of its key witnesses in its case in chief it nevertheless appeared to move no closer to showing the court, the jury, or the public any actual evidence of reckless manslaughter on the part of defendant Kim Potter.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 10, 2021 13 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Daunte Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 09, 2021 7 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today was the second day of the trial proper, and remarkably enough the State decided to spend nearly the entirety of the day focused not on the circumstances of Kim Potter’s unintentional shooting of Daunte Wright, but rather on the car accident that resulted from Wright’s violent and high-speed flight from the traffic stop where he’d just violently fought lawful arrest.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 09, 2021 31 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Daunte Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 08, 2021 14 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today was the first day of the trial proper, with both sides presenting the jury with their opening statements, and the State beginning to present its case in chief and witnesses.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 08, 2021 29 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 05, 2021 18 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 04, 2021 92 Comments
Alec Baldwin recently gave a lengthy interview to George Stephanopoulos on the matter of Alec Baldwin’s fatal October 21 shooting of Halyna Hutchins, who was working as the cinematographer on the low-budget Western film “Rust,” on which Alec Baldwin was both the leading star and a producer. That interview aired the night of Thursday, December 2. I’d written extensively on the legal implications around Alec Baldwin’s shooting of Halyna, particularly “Legal Analysis: Does Alec Baldwin Have Criminal Exposure After Shooting Woman Dead In Apparent Mistake?” the day after the shooting, and “Legal Analysis: Alec Baldwin Situation Beginning to Look a Lot Like Manslaughter” three days later.  My conclusion, as the latter title suggests, is that Alec Baldwin’s conduct appears to have met all the conditions for felony involuntary manslaughter under New Mexico law.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 03, 2021 5 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 02, 2021 9 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021 shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Three more jurors were seated today, for a total of 12 seated jurors. Two more jurors are needed as alternates, and we should expect they’ll be seated tomorrow.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 02, 2021 7 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today the court under Judge Regina Chu continues with the third day of jury selection, after seating nine jurors so far.  The trial requires a total of 14 jurors seated--12 to deliberate a verdict, and two alternates.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 01, 2021 0 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021 shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today saw an additional five jurors seated in this second day of jury selection, for a total of nine seated jurors.  Judge Regina Chu is seeking to have 14 jurors seated in total--12 to deliberate the verdict and two alternates. That naturally means that five additional jurors remain to be seated.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 01, 2021 18 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021, shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today the court under Judge Regina Chu continues with the second day of jury selection, after seating four jurors yesterday.  It is also notable that yesterday each side used a single peremptory strike to remove one prospective juror each, and another five questioned prospective jurors were dismissed for cause.  Judge Chu also informed the jurors that they should expect opening statements on December 8 and that she hoped to have the trial completed before Christmas.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 30, 2021 13 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021 shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today saw four jurors seated in this first day of jury selection.  Two prospective jurors were dismissed using peremptory strikes, one by the State and the other by the defense. The remaining five jurors questioned today were dismissed for cause.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 30, 2021 22 Comments
Welcome to our coverage of the Kim Potter manslaughter trial over the April 11, 2021 shooting death of Duante Wright in a suburb of Minneapolis, when then-police officer Potter accidentally used her Glock 17 pistol in place of her intended Taser. Today we anticipate the start of jury selection.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 29, 2021 38 Comments
Tomorrow morning begins the jury selection in the Minnesota trial of former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kimberly Potter, on charges of 1st and 2nd degree manslaughter for April 11, 2021, shooting death of criminal suspect Duante Wright, whom Potter shot in the mistaken belief that she was wielding her less-than-lethal Taser electroshock weapon. The shooting and immediately surrounding events were captured on Potter’s body camera.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 28, 2021 59 Comments
We've seen this happen in the George Zimmerman trial in Florida a decade ago, in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial just completed in Kenosha WI, and in plenty of cases in between. These are cases where there is little or no evidence inconsistent with self-defense, such that there can be no good-faith reason for a prosecutor to drag that defender to trial.  The only motivation of the prosecutor is personal aggrandizement and political capital.
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