Client accused of killing clerk may have meant to target attorney, filings say
A new client had been represented by St. Paul criminal defense attorney Dan Adkins only a short time before he fired him by text message on Thursday afternoon and demanded his money back.
When Ryan David Petersen couldn’t immediately reach Adkins by phone, he went to the North Star Criminal Defense law office. Adkins, who had been in court, wasn’t present, according to criminal complaints filed Friday. But law clerk Chase Passauer was, and Petersen allegedly shot him six times in the stomach, killing him, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Police responding a little after 4 p.m. on Thursday found Passauer, 23, fatally wounded in his desk chair inside the office.
Adkins was in court Thursday afternoon when Petersen was trying to reach him. Peterson may have mistaken the clerk for his attorney when he fired at Passauer, the filings say. He and Adkins had not yet been to court together and it is unclear if they had ever met in person.
Petersen declined to talk with police but sent a text message to a friend at 4:55 p.m. in which he allegedly said “I just shot my lawyer,” the newspaper reports.
The text was one of a number of incriminating statements he allegedly made to friends, two of whom contacted police, the filings say.
Tracking the 37-year-old’s cellphone, authorities traced him to Chisago County. A police chase reportedly ensued and Petersen was arrested in Washington County. He is now charged with second-degree murder in the Ramsey County case.
Passauer wanted to be a lawyer, and his slaying stunned the St. Paul criminal defense community. There is an earlier ABAJournal.com post about the shooting.
“I never saw this coming in a million years,” said criminal defense attorney Anthony Bussa of Minneapolis, who previously represented Petersen.
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