MN Supreme Court Upholds Conviction Of Man Who Shot & Killed St. Paul Law Clerk

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Supreme Court has released its opinion on an appeal made by Ryan David Petersen, who was convicted of first- and second-degree murder for gunning down a St. Paul law clerk in 2016.

The court upheld the lower court's conviction and determined that Petersen did receive appropriate legal counsel during his appeal process.

Petersen argued he should receive a new sentencing hearing for his conviction of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person. The district court previously denied Petersen's petition without a hearing.

Petersen fatally shot 23-year-old Chase Passauer, a law clerk at a firm in St. Paul, in April 2016. Court documents say Petersen was a client of the law firm and expressed his dissatisfaction with their services in several text messages and phone calls on April 7. Later that day, Passauer was found dead at his desk at the law firm's office above the popular restaurant W.A. Frost & Company in St. Paul.

According to authorities, Passauer wasn't Petersen's intended target. Dan Adkins, the intended target, spoke with WCCO in October 2016.

"I came in that door down the hall when I heard and I ran right through and I saw him," Adkins added. "I did CPR but I never got him close."

Petersen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.