A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against a western Iowa county has been settled out of court. The wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Shelby County by the family of Dwayne Jens of Hancock has been settled out of court for 300-thousand-dollars. Jens was shot and killed by Shelby County Deputy Chad Butler on December 30th, 2004, at the end of a chase in the southwestern part of the county.
The Jens family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the county on behalf of Dwayne Jens’ children — Angela, Joshua and Jacob. Shelby County’s insurance carrier will pay most of the 300-thousand-dollars in the settlement. In the criminal case, a Shelby County jury found Butler not guilty of any wrongdoing in a trial held last June.