Minneapolis man sentenced in fatal 2019 shooting

A Minneapolis man who was found guilty of fatally shooting a man in 2019 has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison.

Derrick Blanton, 39, was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter in December for the shooting death of 29-year-old Isiah Smith on Aug. 18, 2019. On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Blanton to 103 months at Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud. He received credit for 542 days served in jail.

According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Blanton’s sentencing is the maximum under Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.

Blanton had also been charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter, but a jury acquitted him on those offenses, citing the "heat of passion" as a contributing factor.

Jury finds man guilty of manslaughter in shooting of his former girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in Minneapolis

A criminal complaint states Blanton’s girlfriend, who is Smith’s ex-girlfriend, reported the shooting when she returned home at about 4 p.m. and saw Smith lying outside her apartment on the 1900 block of First Avenue South surrounded by a pool of blood.

Several witnesses told police they heard multiple gunshots, and that two men and a child ran from the building, got into a black Dodge Charger and sped away, the complaint states. It also said surveillance video shows Blanton as one of the men.

He was arrested a short time later and admitted to shooting Smith after getting into a physical altercation, the attorney’s office said.

Blanton is slated to stand trial in another case in which he is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting and killing of a man in July 2019, according to the attorney’s office.