In the spring of 2016, a promising young man's life was tragically cut short in what appears to have been a devastating case of mistaken identity. Chase Passauer, a 23-year-old male law clerk with aspirations of attending law school, was fatally shot at his desk on the afternoon of April 7, 2016. He was working at the North Star Criminal Defense law firm, located in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, a place where he was considered not just an employee, but a friend and a
brother.
The events of that day unfolded when a disgruntled client of the firm, Ryan David Petersen, 37, became increasingly agitated. Petersen was reportedly unhappy with the way his attorney, Dan Adkins, was handling his case, which involved charges of drunken driving and assaulting a police officer. On the day of the shooting, Petersen had sent text messages to Adkins, firing him and demanding a refund. Adkins was in court at the time and unable to respond, which seemed to escalate Petersen's frustration.
Believed to be intending to confront his lawyer, Petersen went to the law office. However, Adkins was not present. The only person in the office at that time was Chase Passauer. In a fit of rage, Petersen shot Passauer multiple times. The attorneys at the firm, Dan Adkins and James Gempeler, arrived shortly after the shooting to find Passauer grievously wounded in his desk chair. He was pronounced dead at the scene. It is widely believed that Petersen mistook Passauer for his attorney. This theory is supported by a text message Petersen allegedly sent to a friend shortly after the incident, stating, "No, I just shot my lawyer."
Following the shooting, Petersen fled the scene. He was apprehended by law enforcement early the next morning after a police chase that ended in Washington County. Petersen, a career criminal with a history of violent offenses, was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. The charges were later upgraded by a grand jury to first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree intentional murder, and illegal possession of a firearm.
Ryan D. Petersen stood trial for the murder of Chase Passauer. During the trial, he admitted to shooting Passauer but claimed it was an "emotional explosion" brought on by his lawyer's absence. In October 2016, a judge found Petersen guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder conviction, with a concurrent five-year sentence for the firearms charge. An appeal by Petersen was later denied by the Minnesota Supreme Court, upholding the conviction.
