Dec. 5 (UPI) — A Minneapolis man was arrested in Wisconsin on charges that he harassed the judge presiding over the trial of former police officer Kim Potter in relation to the death of Daunte Wright.
Cortez A. Rice, 32, allegedly protested at a condominium building where he believed Hennepin County District Court Judge Regina Chu lived and demanded that she allow Potter’s trial to be broadcast on Nov. 6, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Potter, a former officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, was charged with manslaughter in April for killing Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop after she allegedly confused her gun with a Taser.
Officials in Hennepin County issued a warrant for Rice’s arrest, and he was hit with a felony charge for tampering with a judicial officer, according to a newly unsealed criminal complaint filed on Nov. 24 and obtained by the outlet.
He was arrested and booked into jail in Waukesha County, Wis., on Monday after he was pulled over for speeding, KARE reported. He waived extradition and will be returned to Hennepin County.
Prosecutors allege that Rice live-streamed himself on YouTube inside the condominium building while telling viewers that protesters were “on her heels.”
“I don’t know if this is her crib. I think this is her crib right here. We got confirmation that this is her house right here,” Rice allegedly said in the video, before making profane and threatening comments.
Local news outlets reported that it remains unclear if the apartment belongs to the judge, but the complaint noted that Chu believed his intention was “to intimidate her and to interfere with the judicial process.”
After the protest, Chu decided to approve live video covering the trial in order to limit the number of people in the courtroom amid the COVID-19 pandemic and not as a result of the protest.
Jury selection in Potter’s highly anticipated trial began on Tuesday and ended Friday. It comes on the heels of the headline-making televised trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for the murder of George Floyd.
