by Evan Stambaugh
A longtime friend and colleague of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter is leading the charge to get her released from prison.
In a Facebook post, Becky Boie, a former crime prevention specialist for the Brooklyn Center Police Department, called on Minnesotans to push Gov. Tim Walz to commute Potter’s sentence.
Boie urged people to send letters, emails, and make phone calls to Walz’s office. She also encouraged them to contact their local state lawmakers.
“We need to focus on all of the fantastic things that Kim can accomplish on the outside,” her post reads. “She already has prospective job opportunities as well as law enforcement agencies reaching out to her to speak/mentor their officers.”
Potter is serving two years in prison for the killing of Daunte Wright. She was convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter last December, but Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu downgraded her sentence in February after determining “the conduct [was] significantly less serious than that typically involved in the commission of the crime.”
Boie told Alpha News that thousands of people have already reached out to Walz in support of Potter’s release. For her part, she calls or emails Walz’s office every single day but has never received a reply. She says it’s her mission to free Potter because she doesn’t belong there.
“To sum it up, [Potter] doesn’t deserve to be there,” she said. “She is a political pawn in this game of life.”
“She has so many supporters but people are afraid to come forward because of these organizations,” Boie added. “Having Kim there is serving no purpose.”
In the state of Minnesota, sentence commutations must be unanimously approved by the Board of Pardons, which comprises the governor, attorney general, and Supreme Court chief justice.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen has said he would consider commuting Potter’s sentence if elected.
Boie and Potter were colleagues at the Brooklyn Center Police Department for almost 20 years, and have been friends for even longer. Although she hasn’t been allowed to visit Potter yet, Boie says Potter is “doing the best she can” despite her segregation from other prisoners, all of whom are female. She isn’t allowed to use the gym or eat at the cafeteria.
In April, Alpha News reported that the Minnesota Department of Corrections considered transferring Potter from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee to the Iowa Correctional Facility for Women.
News of the potential move “crushed” Potter, according to her husband Jeff, but the Department of Corrections issued a statement a few days later saying “Ms. Potter will not be transferred to a different state.”
– – –
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
