Assistant Washington County attorney announces he will run for boss's job

Jan. 12—Assistant Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said Wednesday that he will run for Washington County Attorney this fall with the blessing of his boss, Pete Orput, who announced last week that he would not run for re-election.

Magnuson, of Lake Elmo, was hired as a prosecutor in the Washington County Attorney's office in September 2019. He previously worked as an attorney at Briggs and Morgan; Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi, and Kelley, Wolter & Scott.

Magnuson said he's handled a wide range of cases in his 22 years as a lawyer, including large class-action lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and "protecting vulnerable adults from exploitation and neglect." At Kelley, Wolter & Scott, he worked with Doug Kelley, the court-appointed receiver and bankruptcy trustee, to search for and liquidate assets for the victims and creditors of Tom Petters' $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.

"Nothing is more important than giving voice to the victims of crime and mistreatment," Magnuson said. "Violent criminals, sexual predators, commercial drug dealers and other criminals must be held to account and the law enforced."

Orput, county attorney since 2011, endorsed Magnuson for the job, saying that "Kevin is a brilliant lawyer, terrific leader and committed public servant" and that he has the "temperament and judgment to vigorously prosecute violations of the law while also wisely exercising discretion to take actions that deter crime and heal the wounds that exist in our communities."

Magnuson graduated from Wheaton College in 1990 and then served as an officer in the U.S. Army. Following his service, he earned a master's degree in philosophy after studying at Philipps-Universität Marburg in Germany and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1999, he clerked at the European Commission, Directorate General for Competition, in Brussels.

Magnuson bought his childhood home in Lake Elmo in 2011 and lives there now with his wife, Lindsay, and their two children: Viggo, 20 months; and Clara, 10.

Magnuson is the son of U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as a federal magistrate.

"I learned from the best," Kevin Magnuson said. "For most of my life I listened to my dad talk with great conviction about the nearly sacrosanct role of judges and prosecutors as neutrals who put aside their political and other personal views and apply the law, and only the law. The days of the single-minded pursuit of a client's objective ended the day I became a prosecutor. Now it's all about equal justice and letting the law guide your decisions. Dad, like other great jurists, talks about loving the law. I know it sounds hokey to some but, when you assume these positions of public trust, you have to be utterly devoted to it."