# Jerry W. Blackwell *United States district judge for the District of Minnesota; former special assistant state attorney general in the Derek Chauvin prosecution* Jerry Wayne Blackwell, born in 1962, sits as a judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Minnesota]].[^1] He practiced law privately from 1987 to 2022. He also served, pro bono, as a special assistant state attorney general prosecuting [[Derek Chauvin]] for the murder of George Floyd, delivering the State's opening statement and closing argument.[^2] On September 29, 2023, Blackwell ruled in the federal civil case over the July 2, 2019 police shooting of [[Isak Aden]] in [[Eagan]]. He denied qualified immunity to every officer who fired and to three supervisors on the less-lethal force, and he allowed the Monell claim against Eagan to proceed.[^3] The project's at-issue record quotes the ruling: "A reasonable jury could conclude that any immediate threat had been extinguished."[^4] On February 12, 2025, the Eighth Circuit reversed on qualified immunity. The dossier, dated September 2, 2026, records that no settlement was paid.[^5] The ruling sits beside the account Dakota County gave of itself. The county's stated principle is that officers "need to be held accountable like everyone else." Under that principle every fatal officer-involved shooting in the county since 1990 goes to a grand jury, which receives "a fair and unbiased presentation" and no recommendations. In the Aden case, the documented output was a county attorney declination dated November 13, 2019.[^6] ## Who Blackwell attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain scholar and received a Bachelor of Science in 1984. He then earned a Juris Doctor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1987.[^7] His 35 years in private practice began with Robins Kaplan LLP in [[Minneapolis]], where he was a partner from 1987 to 1996. He was then a partner at Nilan Johnson Lewis from 1996 to 2000 and at Blackwell Igbanugo in Edina, [[Minnesota]], from 2000 to 2006. In 2006 he became a co-founder of Blackwell Burke in Minneapolis.[^2] His clients included the musician Prince. In 2020 he secured a posthumous pardon for [[Max Mason]], who had been wrongly convicted of rape in Duluth in 1920.[^2] He took the Chauvin prosecution without pay. In closing, he told the jury that "the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin's heart was too small."[^2] President Joe Biden nominated him on June 15, 2022, to the District of Minnesota. The seat had been left open when Judge [[Susan Richard Nelson]] took senior status on December 31, 2021.[^8] The Senate Judiciary Committee heard the nomination on July 27, 2022. On September 15, 2022, the committee reported it by a 13–8 vote, with Senator Thom Tillis recorded as having "passed" on the vote.[^8] ## What In the Aden case, Blackwell found a genuine dispute of fact over whether "any immediate threat had been extinguished."[^3] He denied qualified immunity to every officer who fired. He also denied it to three supervisors as to the less-lethal force. He let the Monell claim against Eagan go forward on the ground that the chief had authorized the tactical plan.[^3] The at-issue record describes the same holding: a reasonable jury could find that the threat had ended before the shooting.[^4] The Eighth Circuit later reversed the qualified-immunity rulings.[^5] The pack does not state the status of the Monell claim after that reversal. ## When - July 2, 2019: Isak Aden is shot by police in Eagan.[^6] - November 13, 2019: the county attorney declines to charge in the Aden case.[^6] - September 29, 2023: Blackwell rules in the federal civil case.[^3] - February 12, 2025: the Eighth Circuit reverses on qualified immunity.[^5] ## How The dossier describes the record the court reviewed. Aden had negotiated with police for over four hours. He was unarmed at the moment he was targeted. More than eighty officers surrounded him under sniper coverage.[^3] The at-issue record adds that the officers wore protective gear and deployed three flashbang grenades and foam rounds against him.[^4] Five officers then fired twelve rounds in 3.73 seconds.[^3] ## How many - More than 80 officers present; 5 officers fired; 12 rounds in 3.73 seconds.[^3] - 3 flashbang grenades deployed.[^4] - 3 supervisors denied qualified immunity on the less-lethal force.[^3] ## In the at-issue record At-issue entry AI-Dakota-023 places Blackwell's September 29, 2023 ruling in the use-of-force ledger.[^4] It sets the ruling against the Dakota County declination in the Aden case. Dakota County's stated principle is that every fatal officer-involved shooting goes to a grand jury given "a fair and unbiased presentation." The other Dakota County outcomes in the same ledger were a grand jury no bill for Brandon Rodriguez in Hastings in July 2008, and a grand jury finding of justified for Map Kong in Burnsville on June 22, 2016. In the Aden case, decided November 13, 2019, the record shows a county attorney declination.[^6] The federal court found that a reasonable jury could conclude the threat had already ended.[^3] The court of appeals then reversed on qualified immunity, and the dossier records that no settlement was paid.[^5] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Jerry W. Blackwell* (rev. 1369897755, retrieved 2026-10-27) — birth year; service as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_W._Blackwell [^2]: Wikipedia, *Jerry W. Blackwell*, "Career" and "Notable cases" (retrieved 2026-10-27) — private practice 1987–2022; firms and years; Prince; Max Mason pardon (2020); pro bono role in the Chauvin prosecution and closing-argument quotation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_W._Blackwell [^3]: Minnesota wiki dossier, *Backstrom Apex Dossier*, §III "POSIWID Gap 1 — Police Accountability" (2026-09-02; validated) — the Sept. 29, 2023 District of Minnesota ruling in the Aden case: qualified immunity denied, Monell claim allowed, the record as reviewed. The dossier's court-record source is not among this article's allowed URLs. [^4]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *AI-Dakota-023*, "II. The Use-of-Force Ledger" (dated 2023-09-29; source: Backstrom dossier §III; source domain law.justia.com) — quotation of the ruling; three flashbang grenades and foam rounds; officers in protective gear. [^5]: Minnesota wiki dossier, *Backstrom Apex Dossier*, §III (2026-09-02; validated) — Eighth Circuit reversal on qualified immunity, Feb. 12, 2025; no settlement paid as of the dossier's date. The dossier's appellate-record source is not among this article's allowed URLs. [^6]: Minnesota wiki dossier, *Backstrom Apex Dossier*, §III (2026-09-02; validated) — Dakota County's stated grand-jury principle; outcomes in the Rodriguez (2008), Kong (2016) and Aden (2019) cases; county attorney declination of Nov. 13, 2019. [^7]: Wikipedia, *Jerry W. Blackwell*, "Education" (retrieved 2026-10-27) — Morehead-Cain Scholarship; B.S., UNC Chapel Hill, 1984; J.D., UNC School of Law, 1987. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_W._Blackwell [^8]: Wikipedia, *Jerry W. Blackwell*, "Federal judicial service" (retrieved 2026-10-27) — nomination June 15, 2022; Nelson vacancy (senior status Dec. 31, 2021); hearing July 27, 2022; 13–8 committee vote Sept. 15, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_W._Blackwell