A Montgomery County jury convicted Conroe Police Sgt. Jason Blackwelder of Manslaughter on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, they sentenced him to five years’ probation. Rumors, many with no basis in fact, have run rampant since the incident. They increased when the trial began. MCPR’s Scott Engle was there from day one, through every moment of testimony, in order to provide the most thorough report possible, beginning with some background information.
At 2:56 a.m. July 13, 2013, multiple calls started coming in to the 911 Call Center reporting an apartment fire at Cimarron Park Apartments located at 2201 Montgomery Park Drive. Additional calls reported someone was trapped.
Conroe Police were first to arrive on the scene. An elderly female resident told two officers another elderly woman was seen at a bedroom window just before an explosion. The officers broke out that window and found the woman. They pulled her out and started CPR. MCHD was also en route and continued life saving measures as firefighters battled the flames. Unfortunately, the medics were unsuccessful in reviving her.
Sgt. Jason Blackwelder was one of those officers. He had been a volunteer fireman since he was 16, and didn’t think twice about helping to get her out.
Blackwelder always wanted to be a fireman. He graduated early from high school and missed his graduation ceremony so he could attend fire school in Tarrant County. He returned to Willis Fire Department, and then joined the Houston Fire Department. Not long after, he was certified as a peace officer, and went to work with the Willis Police Department. In 2008 he moved to the Conroe Police Department, where he became a patrol officer, then a SWAT Officer and soon after, a sergeant. He had a spotless record throughout his career. He had high scores for multiple weapons on the firing range. He never had a safety issue. Being a SWAT Officer he was in good physical condition and also a good runner.
On July 31, 2013 Blackwelder and his high school sweetheart and wife of 13 years went to the Walmart store at Loop 336 and Interstate 45 to purchase school supplies. The supplies were for a school supply drive that was going on to help disadvantaged children. Blackwelder had no children.
As they were leaving, heading onto Loop 336 Blackwelder saw a Walmart Loss Prevention Officer chasing a man in shorts and a t-shirt. He then spotted another chasing. He recognized both from the store, since he had made scores of shoplifting calls at the store. They ran to the I-45 feeder and then watched as the running suspect started south on the feeder. The Loss Prevention Officers, who are not allowed to leave the property, paralleled the suspect, running along the back of the Walmart. Blackwelder turned around, and with his wife in the passenger seat learned from loss prevention officer Chris Webb that Conroe Police were on the way. One loss prevention officer ran to the front parking lot in case the suspect doubled back as Webb, who was in contact with his partner, continued watching the suspect on the freeway. Blackwelder saw the suspect come off the feeder near the retention pond and enter the woods. Blackwelder was off duty, but also by law required to become involved. He still didn’t know the reason for the chase. He didn’t know if the store had been robbed, or the bank inside, or if someone was assaulted, or if it was a shoplifting case. He only knew a suspect was running from those charged with catching criminals at the store. Blackwelder grabbed his Model 22 Glock and tucked it into his waistband as he entered the foot pursuit.
Webb watched Blackwelder enter the woods. Almost two minutes later, with Conroe Police on the phone, he heard a gunshot. Webb told dispatchers he just heard a shot, and they immediately told the responding units there were shots fired, and it was escalated to a priority call. They knew one thing Blackwelder still didn’t know- why the suspect was running. He was a shoplifter.
Dispatchers then got a call from Sgt. Blackwelder, who ran back to his vehicle to get his cell phone. He said he just shot someone, and needed EMS.
The first unit on the scene was Conroe Officers Minchew and Humphreys. Minchew started into the woods, walking with Blackwelder who was sweating profusely, covered in forest floor material, very white and seemed to be in a panic. Minchew and Blackwelder entered the woods on a trail near the Lowe’s driveway off the feeder. They approached the shoplifting suspect lying on the ground. Not yet knowing he was dead, they followed protocol and handcuffed him.
Moments later, additional units began to arrive on the scene. Conroe Fire Department and MCHD medics arrived and all seven went back to the scene. They rolled the suspect over, and he appeared to have a bullet hole in his head and a burn type abrasion in the middle of his back. It was determined the suspect was deceased.
Other units were notified along with several detectives. They too saw how Blackwelder was sweating, heavily scratched, and had a bite mark on his arm. His shirt had quite a bit of blood on the right shoulder.
Arriving detectives soon identified the suspect as 19-year-old Russell Rios, a bank teller at First National Bank in Conroe. In Rios’ pockets was iPhone merchandise from Walmart.
Blackwelder told them he assisted in stopping Rios, who was running from the store’s loss prevention officers. Blackwelder told investigators at three different times he had Rios down, but a scuffle ensued, and Rios started to run again. The last time Rios was tackled, Blackwelder’s pistol fell. Blackwelder was then able to retrieve his weapon, but as he did so, Rios attempted to choke him from behind. Blackwelder told investigators he was in fear for his life and felt light headed as if he were going to pass out. He then said, with gun in hand, he reached behind him and pulled the trigger. Rios fell away.
Several days later, detectives interviewed Blackwelder multiple times and did not feel he was being truthful.
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon took the case to the Montgomery County Grand Jury who indicted Blackwelder for Manslaughter. Additional charges were filed, including Tampering With a Government Record and False Report to a Police Officer. They said Blackwelder falsified his written statement and the statement he gave investigators.
Blackwelder, along with 20,000 other Texas Peace Officers, is a member of TMPA, an organization in Texas dedicated to looking after the officers with many benefits. One of those benefits is legal representation in civil or criminal actions against member officers. Greg Cagle, a well-known defense attorney for law enforcement officers in the Houston area, was called early on by Blackwelder. He also went to the scene, as he does in all officer involved firearms discharges.
Cagle started working on the case with the assistance of Attorney Scott Courtney of San Marcos. He also spent close to a year preparing a defense for Blackwelder.
On Monday, June 2, the 410th District Court was called to order with visiting Judge Frank Carmona from Galveston County presiding. A jury of 12 men and women from Montgomery County was chosen, and the trial began.
Prosecutor Kelly Blackburn said there was no way Rios could have been behind Blackwelder as the defense claimed.
“When Jason Blackwelder told (Conroe police) that he had been choked by Russell Rios, they wanted to believe him, “Blackburn said. “He was their fellow officer. But from the very beginning, something was wrong. What they saw was Rios face down with a bullet track up the back of his head and even with that, they wanted to believe him. But the more they tried to prove he was lying, the more it became evident he was. They weren’t seeing what he was saying.”
Defense Cagle slammed the Conroe Police for the way they handled the case.
“Police officers don’t decide to act,” Cagle Said. “If Blackwelder had ignored his oath and done nothing, we wouldn’t be here. But he didn’t ignore his oath. There was an extended struggle because Rios didn’t want to go to jail. He wanted to fight. The evidence is going to be that Rios assaulted Blackwelder and it’s a different situation when an officer is assaulted.”
Dr. Sparks Veasey III, Director of Montgomery County Forensic Services testified first. He told the court he received Rios in a very bloody t-shirt. The t-shirt was discussed many times during the trial due to blood spots. Veasey said by the body being put on its back in the body bag for transportation, additional blood flowed from the head and saturated the shirt. Veasey said Rios was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Veasey found what appeared to be a tear on the back of the shirt and a burn mark. He told the court the mark was made by a gun discharging, lying flat on Rios back, and 53 inches from the ground. Two additional marks were identified as abrasions left by the bullet, and lastly, a hole in the back of Rios head 3 centimeters left of center.
The prosecution said Rios was either on the ground or in a prone position. Veasey testified that even after someone is shot they would most likely take several more breaths. However, he did not find any debris from the forest floor in Rios’ airway. He said there were multiple scratches, most likely from a scuffle, or running through the woods.
Chris Webb, the loss prevention officer, watched Rios as he entered the store through the garden center (as could be seen on one of the 300 cameras in and around the store). He then left through the garden center, after leaving the electronics department. Webb was in contact with his partner by cell phone who was also in contact with Conroe Police on another cell phone.
CPD Investigator Joe Feraro was brought to the stand and testified. Feraro said he became angry when Blackwelder told him how it happened. He told the court from the evidence he could tell Blackwelder was not telling the truth. He told Prosecutor Blackburn that Blackwelder was a liar.
Defense attorneys then began to take apart Feraro’s investigation. Feraro said there was no interview done with the first supervisor on the scene.
He stated he saw some blood and droplets but they were not photographed and did not collect the droplets on the ground for DNA. Cagle continued to push as to why almost one year later, only two of the seven firemen and medics were ever interviewed. He told Cagle he was unable to reach them. Cagle also tried to get an explanation as to why Luminol, a chemical used to find blood on the ground or on objects was not used.
Almost all the officers that testified admitted it was tough to testify against a fellow officer. Cagle also questioned why an outside agency was not brought in to investigate an incident within the department. He pointed at two Texas Rangers who sat in the courtroom and questioned why they were not called with their wealth of resources. Cagle also questioned why no blood was found on the gun.
Chris Tusi, a property crimes detective who took over the investigation of the case was called to the stand. He testified he was off the night of the shooting, and was called in and informed by the Deputy Chief that he would lead the investigation. Tusi, who was outranked by Blackwelder and also served on the SWAT Team with Blackwelder said, “It’s intimidating and not a comfortable feeling,” when asked about investigating his fellow officer.
Tusi said he had concerns about the crime scene; mainly that Blackwelder’s account of the shooting did not match what appeared to be the trajectory of the bullet grazing up Rios’ back and into his skull.
“It’s very hard to get that bullet trajectory to the back of the skull,” Tusi said. “I was extremely conflicted because this is someone I’ve worked with, trained, done night shifts with and what he’s telling me is not adding up. But I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
The investigation showed Rios ran 25-30 yards into the woods and no more than 1 minute, 45 seconds passed between them entering the woods and Blackwelder exiting alone, Tusi said.
Dawn Laporte, a Harris County Firearms Expert testified that a Glock Model 22 was a .40 caliber weapon that did not have and external safety. She stated that it had a safety in the center of the trigger and that it required four and one half to five finger pressure to pull the trigger.
The prosecution continued to try and prove Rios was in a semi-prone position after Blackwelder tackled him again. They said Blackwelder had the gun resting on Rios’ back with his finger in the trigger guard and not indexed.
As he tried to pull Rios’ left hand behind Rios to gain control of him, Blackwelder;s right hand reflexed, causing a trigger pull and the gun to discharge leaving the burn mark in the middle of Rios back as the powder was released. It is what is known as “sympathetic fire,” and is quite common in situations where the trigger finger reacts to what the opposite hand is doing.
Emily Herren, a forensic biologist with Bode Technology, a DNA lab where results can be determined quicker than DPS, was unable to find any DNA from the bite mark on Blackwelder’s arm.
The Rios family and their family attorney refused to release his dental records to be matched. Herren testified the gun had no DNA or blood. As for the blood on the front of Blackwelder’s shirt, she said DNA of either Rios or Blackwelder could not be excluded. The blood on the right front of Rios’ pocket was not a match for either on DNA. The inside of Blackwelder’s shirt collar was blood Herring could not match to either person, and the blood on the top front of Blackwelder’s pants was both Rios and Blackwelder’s blood.
CPD Sgt. Jeff Bradford, a field training coordinator who served as Blackwelder’s patrol sergeant in years prior, testified that Blackwelder excelled in firearm training for safety and accuracy.
Bradford admitted that carrying a weapon in the pants seal without a holster is unsafe and perhaps reckless, which is what Blackwelder is alleged to have done when he chased and fought Rios.
Celestina Rossi, who is a 17-year MCSO crime scene investigator, claims 3,900 hours training and is an instructor at both Texas A&M and Sam Houston State University took the stand. Conroe Police went to her for answers when things were not adding up.
“I determined (Rios) was not behind Sgt. Blackwelder at the time of the event,” Rossi said. “Blood splatter is going to come back to the shooter because the injury is in the back of the head with a track of powder burns going up Rios’ back.”
“We considered multiple scenarios and were unable to find a way Rios was behind Sgt. Blackwelder,” Rossi said. “Rios has to be in front for the small circular stains to appear on the front of Blackwelder’s shirt and pants. It defies physics for Rios to be in back and have blood splatter in this area of Blackwelder’s clothing. We can’t determine an absolute position, but a general position shows Rios face-down, head elevated and slightly turned to the left.”
“It sounds like you’re making a lot of excuses for why your theory doesn’t match up with the evidence in this case,” Cagle said to Rossi. “You want to rely on assumptions in the lack of evidence. Don’t assume or make excuses. If you can’t see it and there’s no evidence, scientifically, we have to assume it doesn’t exist.”
Rossi said the reconstruction, which used a coconut filled with cow blood as opposed to a human head, was designed to test for blood dispersion, rather than volume. Rossi expected Blackwelder to have blood spatter on his face, but said it could have been wiped off before crime scene photos were taken. Rossi also said a possible explanation for the transfer stains on the bottom of Blackwelder’s shirt, which matched Rios’ DNA, could have been from him wiping the sweat his face with it at the crime scene.
Rossi and Tusi performed an experiment putting the gun on the back of a dummy in the position the prosecution speculated. Using the coconut, the blood spattered back to the shooter, in this case Tusi. He was wearing full protective gear, and besides being covered in blood, blood dripped from his face shield. The gun on the back of the dummy was also covered in blood unlike Blackwelder’s.
Jon Priest, a retired Denver police officer who investigated more than 300 officer-involved shootings in his career, was hired by Montgomery County in March to analyze evidence in the case against Blackwelder.
Priest said he believed the shot was consistent with “sympathetic fire,” also called unintended firing of the weapon.
“Foot pursuits are very dangerous for law enforcement officers,” Priest said. “It’s not tactically sound to engage in a foot pursuit without securing your weapon. It increases the risk not only to the officer, but anyone else who may be in the area.”
“As the seriousness of the crime increases, the reasonableness of the response increases. First and foremost, an off-duty officer is in plain clothes and not easily identifiable as police,” he said. “He can say he’s police, but that’s not clear. Secondly, the officer has no communication with other officers or handcuffs (to detain the suspect). Once I catch the individual, now what am I going to do?”
Cagle stated Conroe Police do not have a foot pursuit policy, nor does it indicate officers are prohibited from carrying a firearm without a holster.
Albert Rodriguez, who retired after 25 years as the commander over training for Texas DPS and is now employed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, testified for the defense.
Rodriguez told jurors he did not believe it would be reckless for an officer to carry a gun without its holster or to shoot someone who engaged them in a physical confrontation.
“As officers, we protect life and property,” Rodriguez said. “That’s our job. In our training, we give officers a foundation to work with in detaining a suspect; but each situation is unique, which is why you can’t teach every technique. The ideal situation is for the officer to give commands and the subject complies. When you have fractions of a second to make a decision, it’s a totally different scenario.”
He also disagreed that the short run into the woods would wear out a SWAT officer to the point that was described as white and sweating profusely.
Rodriguez also testified it could be easy for an officer to not remember the exact details of an incident. He explained it takes only 1.18 seconds for perception, evaluation, telling one’s arm to aim and “bang.” In hundreds of incidents, he said officers remember the shot but not the bang, and in fact there are many cases where officers determine only one shot was fired, an entire clip was emptied.
Rodriguez said, “an analogy of this is you call someone on your cell phone and the number rings but nobody answers. Then just as you disconnect you hear someone answer but it is too late as the action of disconnecting has already been set in motion.”
He told the jury how quickly someone could pass out if being choked. An example he gave was wrestling matches on television when a wrestler puts another in a head lock and seconds later he falls out. He told the jury when training for hand to hand combat many in training pass out and they keep oxygen on hand just for that purpose.
He stated if Blackwelder was being choked and passed out, the control of his weapon would most likely have gone to Rios, and could have been used on Blackwelder. He agreed that it was deadly force and Blackwelder was in fear of his life.
Blackwelder said he was losing consciousness when he shot Rios and was unsure of their exact positioning.
Cory Latham, with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation took the stand for the defense. He was hired to study Rossi’s findings and he came to a different conclusion.
Latham, who also owns an independent forensics lab, said in order to understand blood spatter, it would take consideration of size, shape, dispersion and appearance of the blood stains. He said some of the stains previously identified as spatter on Blackwelder’s shirt were inconsistent.
There was a dispute between Rossi and Latham on whether blood spatter always disperses in the direction of the force, or whether quick movement and other variables affect the direction of dispersion.
“Bloodstain Pattern Analysis with an Introduction to Crime Scene Reconstruction,” the textbook used as a reference throughout the trial, shows that blood spatter dispersion is perpendicular to the surface being struck rather than going straight back to the direction of the force.
Latham performed similar experiments to Rossi’s but used a sponge soaked in blood rather than a coconut and determined back spatter was ejected from Rios’ left side and the only area consistent with spatter on Blackwelder is on his front right shoulder and back.
“There’s a multitude of possibilities,” Latham said. “It’s a dynamic situation. They’re fighting and moving, so it would be difficult to place their exact positioning. But Rios having Blackwelder in a left-handed chokehold is a possibility. I don’t believe the state’s proposed position is the best explanation.”
Prosecutor Jeff Hohl prepared for closing arguments.
“Mr. Cagle wants you to believe the way Sgt. Blackwelder responded – by sticking his gun in his waistband, with no communication with other officers – is how officers respond every time,” Hohl said. “They want you to believe that since his story never changed, it has to be true. If you believe Blackwelder’s statement, you have to believe he was pursuing a misdemeanor offender in the woods, dropped his gun and then was somehow able to get his gun on Rios’ back, and then able to get blood on his shoulder and on the front of his shirt. It doesn’t make sense.
“Sgt. Blackwelder told us what happened out there in his statement, that he got (Rios) on the ground in a prone position, saw his gun and then knew he had to get it. Imagine being in that position. Imagine the panic. He knew he had to come up with a story to justify it. So he came out of the woods with that story. The evidence leads you to one conclusion.”
Cagle said the evidence and lack thereof proves Blackwelder’s innocence. He also showed Blackwelder’s flawless record as an officer, having never been written up or reprimanded in his time with Conroe Police since 2008.
Just before noon Monday, the 12 member jury began deliberations. Meanwhile, Blackwelder’s friends and family waited patiently for a verdict. At 5:30 p.m., a verdict was not reached and the jury was sent home for the night.
Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., deliberations resumed, and at 1:06 p.m. the jury announced they had a verdict. The jury found Sgt. Jason Blackwelder guilty of Manslaughter by Reckless Conduct.
With Blackwelder facing two to 20 years in prison, and being required to do at least half of it due to the jury’s finding of a deadly weapon, the courtroom was tense. One option was probation, but by Texas law, since there was a finding of a deadly weapon, probation could not be given by a judge- only a jury.
Late Wednesday the jury returned with a sentence of five years’ probation.
In a post-sentencing press conference, DA Brett Ligon was asked why the charge of Manslaughter was chosen over a Murder charge.
“Murder requires a specific intent,” Ligon said. “It’s an intent crime, either the intent to commit the murder or commit an act clearly dangerous to human life.”
“Despite what the officer’s statement was, I believe it was clear from the initial investigation, and from the experts, and from the recreation that this was what’s common in law enforcement- what’s called an ‘unintentional discharge.’ He was handling a Glock model 22, which has a very unique trigger system and a unique safety system on the trigger itself,” Ligon said. “I think it was clear from everybody that in all likelihood it was an unintentional discharge.”
“However, the way that he handled his weapon- we’re getting the specifics-Officers are taught not to put their finger within the trigger guard, they’re taught to index,” Ligon said. “When you start placing your finger within the trigger guard, bad things happen, and if you’re intending them to happen, well then that’s fine.”
“So the officer in the struggle- it was clear when he placed his hand on the back of Rios in an effort to gain control of him is when we believe that the gun went off,” he said.
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