Biden Nominates Derek Chauvin Prosecutor For Federal Judge Position

MINNEAPOLIS — President Joe Biden has nominated one of the state prosecutors in former police officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Jerry W. Blackwell was one of seven judicial nominees announced by the White House Wednesday. Blackwell rose to national prominence by successfully prosecuting Chauvin, whose killing of Geroge Floyd sparked global protests and demands for police reform.

Biden's choices Wednesday "continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country — both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds," the White House said in a statement.

Blackwell graduated from the University of North Carolina law school in 1987 and was a partner at Nilan Johnson Lewis from 1996 to 2000 and a partner at Robins Kaplan from 1987 to 1996.

Blackwell currently works for Blackwell Burke, a Minneapolis-based firm that he founded in 2006.

He was recruited by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to lead the prosecution against Chauvin. He gave the opening statement in the April 2021 trial, which was live-streamed across the world.

During his initial remarks, Backwell showed the jurors footage of Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd and said the numbers to remember were 9 minutes and 29 seconds. That is the amount of time that Chauvin pinned Floyd down, even after Floyd went silent and lifeless.

"He put his knees upon his neck and his back, grinding and crushing him, until the very breath — no, ladies and gentlemen — until the very life was squeezed out of him," he told jurors.

The jurors ultimately sided with Blackwell and decided to convict Chauvin of second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.