Shannon Gooden lost his rights to own firearms after a felony assault conviction in 2007. Gooden also had three different women seek orders of protection from him. He eventually began living with a girlfriend, Ashley Dyrdahl, in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville. He convinced Dyrdahl to purchase several guns for him, which she knew he was not allowed to have.

Early in the morning of Sunday, February 18, 2024 Dyrdahl called 911 to report a sexual assault by Gooden. Ten minutes later police showed up and began several hours of negotiations. Eventually Gooden opened fire. He killed two police officers (Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27) and a firefighter/paramedic (Adam Finseth, 40). He also wounded another police officer (Adam Medlicott, 38). Gooden fired over 100 rounds including through windows and then shot himself in the head. There were reportedly seven children present in the home.

Dyrdahl eventually pled guilty to two counts of straw purchasing. On September 12, 2025 I sketched her sentencing. She read a tearful statement apologizing to the families, accepting responsibility, and saying she will carry the burden of guilt with her every day for the rest of her life. Then multiple family members read statements describing how the deaths have devastated their families. Children will grow up without their fathers, wives will never again embrace their husbands, fathers will never again talk with their sons. It was a very heavy and emotional day in court.

Dyrdahl was sentenced by Judge Jerry Blackwell to 45 months in prison.

On June 14, 2025, Vance Boelter went on a shooting spree in an attempt to murder several Minnesota lawmakers. He impersonated a police officer with a costume, mask, and black cruiser with a fake “POLICE” license plate. First he went to the home of state Senator John Hoffman, shooting Hoffman, his wife, and their daughter. Then he drove to the home of State Representative Kristin Bahner but she was not home. At 2:36 a.m., he was found by a police officer near State Senator Ann Rest’s house but fled before an encounter could occur. Boelter then traveled to the home of Representative Melissa Hortman where he encountered more police officers. He entered the house, shot and killed Hortman and her husband, exchanged gunfire with police, and fled on foot. A large manhunt ensued and Boelter was arrested the next day.

While on the run Boelter scribbled a letter to the FBI in which, among other things, he claimed that he was asked to commit murder by governor Tim Walz.

So far Boelter has had several very brief preliminary hearings with no trial date set. Each of these hearings lasted about 10-15 minutes total so I had to draw fast.

One June 27 Boelter showed up for a bail hearing wearing a padded “suicide vest”, a long body-length smock with no clothing underneath. Boelter had been put on suicide watch but stated he was not suicidal. He said that the harsh conditions in the jail (constant lighting, a mat with no pillow, noisy prisoners, etc.) had left him sleep deprived, so he asked that the hearing be postponed. The request was granted.

On July 3 Boelter was indicted on six federal counts including murder, stalking, and firearms violations.

On August 7, 2025 Boelter was formally arraigned. He pleaded not guilty. As to the upcoming trial, the prosecution asked for an extended timeline due to the complexities of the case, which the judge granted. A trial date was not set but the judge said depending on how things go it could be as late as 2027.

The ‘Feeding Our Future’ scandal was the largest covid fraud in the nation. During the pandemic schools were closed but many parents still had to go to work and could not stay home to feed their kids. The Minnesota government set up a program whereby vendors would provide meals for children in place of school lunches. The vendors would provide the meals, then bill the government and be reimbursed for the cost of the food. Feeding Our Future was a nonprofit that scammed the state out of $250 million by pretending to provide meals to large numbers of children, then pocketing most of the money.

Abdiaziz Farah owned the restaurant Empire Cuisine in Shakopee, Minnesota. He and his co-conspirators falsely claimed to have served about 18 million meals to children, submitting fraudulent reimbursement requests totaling around $49 million. Dozens of people were involved in the scheme but Farah was considered one of the leaders. He personally pocketed over $8 million from the fraud, using the money to buy luxury vehicles and real estate in Kenya. He also attempted to flee the country and to bribe jurors.

On August 6, 2025 Farah was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $48 million in restitution.

A few days ago Minnesota Public Radio came to my studio to interview me about courtroom sketching. We talked for about a half hour. Some of it must have been usable because they edited it into a two-and-a-half minute segment that aired yesterday. If you want to hear me ramble it’s now available on their website.

The ongoing P. Diddy trial has people talking about courtroom sketch art. Although I’m not one of the artists sketching the Diddy case, CNN reached out to me and a couple of other established court artists to do a phone interview for an article on courtroom sketching. Then over the next two days I had four(!) radio stations call me to record interviews. They all asked about why we have sketch artists and what it’s like to do drawings in court.

Here’s the CNN article in which I am quoted:

Courtroom sketches of the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial are drawing quite a reaction

My first radio interview was with the nationally syndicated Anna & Raven Show. They called me up and edited my ramblings into a short segment. I made the newbie mistake of talking too fast but otherwise it was fun. Listen here.

I also did an interview with Logan and Sadie in the Morning on 96.9 WINK-FM (Fort Myers, FL). I don’t have a link to the other two interviews, but that’s OK because this was probably my best one. I actually talked at a normal speed:

Dogukan Gunaydin is a Turkish citizen who was attending the University of Minnesota’s graduate program at the Carlson School of Management. In June 2023 he pleaded guilty to a DWI. In March 2025 he was detained by ICE and his visa was revoked because of the DWI. His case drew significant media attention and sparked protests on the University of Minnesota campus.

On April 11, 2025 I sketched a brief hearing for Gunaydin’s case in immigration court. When I arrived there was a massive line of maybe a hundred or more college students waiting to go through security in hopes of attending the hearing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a line that big for a court case. The judge did not allow digital devices in the courtroom so instead of my iPad I had to draw the old fashioned way on paper. Gunaydin appeared via closed circuit TV from the jail where he remained in custody. The hearing was short so I only had time for one sketch, which I had to finish it in a conference room after the hearing ended.

The judge ruled that Gunaydin will remain in custody while ICE works on formalizing the charges against him.

In March 2025 Minnesota state senator Justin Eichorn was caught in a sting operation and charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution. On March 20 there was a brief hearing after his arrest. He was released to a halfway house with GPS monitoring and is awaiting trial. I only had time for one quick sketch.

Feeding Our Future was a nonprofit accused of the largest Covid fraud in the nation. They allegedly stole about a half a billion dollars from the Minnesota government under the guise of feeding school children. Dozens of people were charged as part of the conspiracy.

The first trial was held in Spring of 2024 with seven defendants. The second trial had only two defendants: Aimee Bock, the Executive Director of Feeding Our Future, and Said Salim, the owner of Safari Restaurant. Bock was the “mastermind” charged with wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery. Said took part in the scheme by fraudulently collecting money while claiming to serve 3.9 million meals to children during covid.

If my memory serves, the trial lasted about six weeks. Ultimately Bock and Said were both found guilty on all charges.

I was only present for a few select days of the trial, but here are some of the sketches I did:

Alpha News is a Minneapolis news network that positions itself as “reporting stories that are overlooked by Minnesota’s mainstream media”. After the death of George Floyd, Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell testified in the trials against Derek Chauvin and the other three officers who were with Chauvin while he held Floyd down. In court, Blackwell took to the witness stand and stated that the technique Chauvin used was not part of Minneapolis police training.

Alpha News then created a documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis” in which they alleged that Blackwell lied under oath. They accused Blackwell of making claims about police training that did not match with official police policy and training materials. (Example: MPD’s policy manual defined a neck restraint as including compression ‘with an arm or leg’ but Blackwell told the jury that police were trained to use only arms, giving them the false impression that Chauvin’s knee-on-neck technique was never part of Minneapolis police training and stating that it was “not something we train.”) Blackwell sued Alpha News for defamation, arguing that Alpha News made misleading claims that damaged her reputation and career. She called Alpha News “extremists who are more interested in shaping a narrative and provoking outrage than in communicating any version of the truth.”

On February 7, 2025 Alpha News argued before a judge that the case should be dismissed because their claims were accurate, were not defamatory, and because this case could have a chilling effect on the free speech of journalists. I was hired by Alpha News to sketch that hearing.

Ultimately the judge ruled in favor of Alpha News, stating that their claims about Blackwell were “substantively true”. Blackwell was ordered to pay $75,000 in attorney fees to Alpha News. Alpha News says their fees were “considerably higher” but they sought a lower amount “out of respect for Blackwell’s service in law enforcement and the National Guard”. Blackwell also signed a declaration affirming the finding of the judge’s order about the case were “accurate, true, and correct.”

On March 31, 2023 Madeline Kingsbury went missing from her home in Winona, Minnesota. She had recently separated from her ex-boyfriend Adam Fravel, who was the father of their two young children. Despite multiple searches with hundreds of volunteers, her body was not discovered for four months. It was eventually found in a culvert near Fravel’s parents home.

Fravel’s trial lasted about two weeks during October-November 2024. Witnesses testified that Fravel allegedly had threatened Kingsbury, struck her, and once attempted to strangle her in front of her children. However, after she went missing there was no sign of struggle in the home.

A jury found Fravel guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to life in prison.

I attended opening arguments, closing arguments, and three days of testimony. Here are a few of the sketches: