Date of Offense
Offense(s)
Official Statement
Katie M. Blackwell is subject to a substantial Brady/Giglio credibility concern arising from sworn declarations filed in Katie Blackwell v. Liz Collin et al., Hennepin County District Court, Court File No. 27-CV-24-15500. In that proceeding, current and former Minneapolis Police Department personnel submitted sworn declarations concerning Blackwell’s April 5, 2021 testimony in State v. Chauvin. The defense filing states that thirty-four MPD officers swore that MPD trained knee-on-neck or knee-to-neck/upper-shoulder restraint techniques, including in connection with the Maximal Restraint Technique, and that fourteen officers stated under oath their belief that Blackwell perjured herself.
The officers identified in the filing as making that perjury-related accusation are:
Matthew Alberts
Michael Geere
Anna Hansen
Paul Hatle
Mark Kaspszak
Jeremiah Kocher
Robert Kroll
David Roiger
Brandy Steberg
Ken Tidgwell
David Voss
Kimberly Voss
Joseph Will
Alan Williams
This complaint does not require a criminal conviction or judicial finding of perjury to establish Brady/Giglio relevance. The existence of multiple sworn law-enforcement declarations accusing a senior MPD command officer of false or materially misleading testimony in a nationally significant murder prosecution is itself impeachment material. The allegation directly concerns truthfulness, candor, training knowledge, courtroom testimony, and the reliability of Blackwell as a government witness, supervisor, trainer, policymaker, or command-level declarant. The later dismissal of Blackwell’s civil defamation lawsuit did not constitute a judicial finding that she committed perjury; the court expressly stated that it reached no conclusion on the merits of that debate. However, the sworn accusations remain a serious disclosure issue and must be treated as potential impeachment evidence in any matter where Blackwell’s credibility, judgment, training knowledge, supervisory authority, or official statements are material.
