Kim Potter trial: Defense tells jurors officer made a mistake: LIVE UPDATES

Nearly a dozen witnesses have taken the stand during the first two days of testimony in the trial of former suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter. 

But none of those witnesses may be as important as the defendant behind the trigger, who is expected to take the stand in the coming days. 

“A lot of times defendants can be their own worst enemy when it comes to testifying in court,” criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway, who is not associated with the case, told Fox News. 

Despite that, Holloway said that Potter could have an advantage because she has experience giving testimony during her 26-year law enforcement career, so "having her take the stand is probably not a bad idea."

Another key aspect of the trial is video evidence that the jury has been watching in the courtroom. 

“The real question for this jury is what to make of this [body camera] video and does it show a crime,” Holloway said.

After the jury was dismissed for the evening on Thursday, defense attorney Paul Engh motioned for a mistrial on the grounds that the prosecution has spent “unending” time on irrelevant issues. 

"The defense has expressed a concern about the presentation of the state's case. The issue in our case, here, is the thought process of Kimberly Potter at the moment that she yelled, 'Taser, taser, taser,' and pulled the trigger of her gun. We have spent the day, rather, on an accident that was caused by Daunte Wright's excessive speed," Engh told Judge Regina Chu.

"I didn't see any evidence directed towards the proof of guilt today, but rather evidence of sordid pictures and prejudicial impacts that had little relevance."

Prosecutor Matthew Frank argued that the evidence the state has presented is relevant because they are seeking a lengthier sentence based on aggravating factors.

"She was an officer at the time and her role as an officer... presented a violation of trust in authority, and we alleged that as one of the aggravating factors," Frank said. "The other is that her conduct presented danger to more than just the individuals in the immediate area. It presented a greater danger to a number of people."

In the morning, the prosecution called Denise Lundgren-Wells, the daughter of an elderly couple involved in the car crash with Wright. Lundgren-Wells testified that her father’s health decline “accelerated quickly” after the crash and he is currently in hospice care. 

Two police officers and two paramedics who responded to the shooting and subsequent crash testified in the afternoon on Thursday.

Judge Regina Chu denied the motion for a mistrial, telling the attorneys that “we’re really getting ahead of ourselves now.”

Officer Jeff Sommers pulled up alongside Daunte Wright's crashed car.

Brooklyn Center police officer Jeff Sommers, who has worked for the Brooklyn Center Police Department for more than a decade, responded to the scene after hearing a “shots fired” call. 

Body camera footage shows Sommers pulling up alongside Daunte Wright’s crashed car and pulling his handgun as officers waited to approach. 

“Get out of the car so we can help him,” the officers repeatedly told Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, who was in the passenger seat. 

After about four minutes, Sommers and other officers approached the vehicle, pulled Wright out and started performing life-saving measures. 

Sommers explained that officers waited to approach the vehicle because there were so many unknowns. 

"We had to assume that there was a firearm in the car, that’s why those precautions were taken,” Sommers said. 

Judge Regina Chu sustained an objection from the defense to stop playing some body camera footage for the jury on the grounds that it was “cumulative,” meaning that it was repetitive.

Body camera footage showing officers approaching Wright's car and performing life-saving measures was shown in court on Thursday.

Officer Daniel Irish, who works for the nearby Champlin Police Department and responded to the scene, testified about the medical aid that he provided to Wright in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and crash. 

Body camera footage of Irish and other officers performing CPR and other life-saving measures was played in court. 

As Irish and other officers approached the vehicle, he saw Wright slumped over in the driver’s seat and pulled him out of the car. 

"A single gunshot wound appeared to have entered from the left side and exited on the right side,” Irish said, noting that Wright did not have a pulse. 

Paramedics arrived moments later and told the officers to stop life-saving measures, meaning that Wright was deceased. 

The defense objected to the body camera footage and other pieces of evidence that the prosecution wanted to display during Irish’s testimony. The judge overruled the objection to playing the body camera footage. 

The court is now on an afternoon break and will resume around 2:35 p.m. CT. 

In this screen grab from video, Brooklyn Center police officer Alan Douglas-Salvosa, testifies in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter. (Court TV, via AP, Pool)

The state called Brooklyn Center police officer Alan Douglas Salvosa to the stand. He is a 12-year member of the force, a field training officer and SWAT team member.

Salvosa said he knows former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter and previously worked with her.

On Aril 11, the day of the shooting, Salvosa said he was on duty and heard a call over the radio that officer Anthony Luckey had made a traffic stop.

He said he began to drive over to the scene, hearing on the way that a possible warrant was attached to either the vehicle or person inside and that police wanted another squad to respond.

Salvosa said that while driving toward the scene he witnessed a white Buick crash head-on into a grey Subaru. Salvosa said he got out of his patrol car with his gun drawn on the Buick and ordered the occupants to put their hands up.

The state then presented dashcam video from Salvosa’s patrol vehicle and footage from his body worn camera.

“He’s not breathing,” the female passenger can be heard saying.

“The driver isn’t breathing,” Salvosa can be heard relaying over the radio and called for additional ambulances.

“Get out of the car so we can help him!” Salvosa yells.

As first responders lend aid, someone is heard saying, “He’s probably not going to make it.”

Salvosa is seen explaining to other officers at the scene that the driver of the Buick had a gunshot wound and he wasn’t sure how it had occurred.

The state called to the stand Kerry Blanski, who lives near the site of the crash between Daunte Wright’s vehicle and a second vehicle after the shooting. 

She described how she and her husband heard the crash and ran out to see if everyone was alright. She said one car had crashed onto the sidewalk. 

After getting outside, she said a police car drove up and stood behind the door of his car with his gun drawn. 

Blanski also described how after the accident a group appearing to be Wright’s family were on the scene and emotional. 

The defense did not wish to cross examine and Blanski was excused.

Patricia Lundgren, an 81-year-old Brooklyn Park resident, was called to take the stand.

Lundgren was driving with her husband when their car was struck by Wright’s vehicle after the shooting. She said that Wright’s vehicle cut across the center line into their lane and struck their car head-on. She said that Wright was the driver.

Lundgren was excused and her daughter, 62-year-old, Denise Lundgren-Wells was called to the stand. She described her parents after the accident.

Lundgen-Wells said a voicemail from her mother after the crash said: “We’ve been in an accident. The car is totaled. The guy in the other car died. We’re tired and going to bed. Don’t call us.”

She said her father had health issues before the accident and went on to describe how they appeared to accelerate afterwards. She said her father is currently in hospice care.

Caleb Livingston, 19, suffers from unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, according to attorney Mike Padden, who is representing three families suing Daunte Wright’s estate.

A young Illinois man is permanently disabled after running afoul of Daunte Wright, the Minnesota 20-year-old shot and killed by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, whose trial on manslaughter charges is underway. 

At around 9:19 p.m. CT on May 14, 2019, Caleb Livingston, then 16, suffered a single gunshot wound to the head outside the Full Stop gas station on Lowry Avenue North in Minneapolis, according to court documents. The gun was allegedly shot by Wright, who was fatally shot roughly two years later.

Livingston will be 19 next month but can no longer walk, talk or take care of himself. His mother and caretakers feed him through a straw and he breathes through a tracheostomy tube.

"The part that probably hurts me the most is that I still don't have any explanation from anybody, not even from the Minneapolis Police Department," his mother, Jennifer LeMay, 39, told Fox News Digital.

Click here to read more on Fox News.

In this screen grab from video, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, a passenger in Daunte Wright's car during a traffic stop, testifies in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter. (Court TV, via AP, Pool)

The trial of Minnesota police officer Kim Potter began Thursday with emotional testimony from Daunte Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton.

Albrecht-Payton, 20, was in the car with Wright when police pulled them over before the fatal shooting.

She described the moments after Potter said Wright tried to drive away during his arrest and was shot.

"I took my belt off and I grabbed whatever was in the car, a sweater, a towel, and I put it on his chest like you see in the movies and the tv shows – I just didn’t know what to do," Albrecht-Payton said of the moment. "I just tried to hold it and I just tried to scream his name. I just kept saying Daunte, Daunte, please say something. He just couldn’t, I know he tried, and I know he wanted to. I keep playing that image in my head daily."

The Minnesota National Guard told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the agency is prepared to assist the city of Brooklyn Center upon request ahead of the second day of testimony in the trial of Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Daunte Wright. 

“The Minnesota National Guard has units that are trained and have been identified to be a reaction force in the event they are needed to protect lives, preserve property, and ensure people's rights to protest peacefully,” said Army Col. Scott Rohweder, director of operations, in a written statement.

Rohweder said that units would help as a supporting agency at the request of officials of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, and Hennepin County officials, and under the direction of Gov. Tim Walz. 

“Minnesota National Guard will not be proactively assuming posts throughout the Twin Cities,” Rohweder said. “Should they be needed, Guard members will operate in support of local law enforcement." 

On Wednesday, the highly anticipated trial kicked off with testimony from both Wright’s mother and the officer Potter was training during the deadly traffic stop last April. 

The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. CT Thursday.

Officer Kim Potter reacts after the traffic stop of Daunte Wright on the April 11, 2021. (Court TV, via AP, Pool)

The lawyer for a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer who killed a Daunte Wright, a Black motorist, during a traffic stop told jurors on Wednesday that his client made a mistake when she grabbed the wrong weapon during the incident. 

Paul Engh, the defense attorney, said, “Police officers are human beings.”

And he cast blame on Wright , saying all the 20-year-old had to do that day was surrender. The trial included dramatic testimony from Wright’s mother, who recalled seeing her son unconscious during a FaceTime stream.

There were also more details about the immediate response from Kim Potter, the officer, after the shooting. 

Trainee officer Anthony Luckey testified that he was trying to stop Wright from getting back into his car and driving off when Potter yelled, "Taser, Taser, Taser," and shot Wright once in the chest. 

"Ah s—! I just shot him," Potter yelled as Wright drove off.

"I grabbed the wrong f------ gun. I shot him. Oh my God."

Potter then sat down on the curb and yelled, "Oh my God," multiple times while crying and rocking back and forth. "I’m going to go to prison," Potter said moments later.

"No you’re not," Luckey responded. "Kim, that guy was trying to take off with me in the car," Sgt. Mychal Johnson added.  - The Associated Press contributed to this report