ST. PAUL, MN - The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today that it is recommending six candidates for consideration to fill four vacancies in Minnesota’s Tenth Judicial District. One of the vacancies occurred upon the retirement of the Honorable Jonathan N. Jasper, and the other vacancies will occur upon the retirement of the Honorable James A. Cunningham, the Honorable Kristin C. Larson, and the Honorable Nancy J. Logering.?Three seats will be chambered in Anoka in Anoka County, and one will be chambered in Elk River in Sherburne County.

Madelyn Adams: Madelyn Adams is the interim director of youth justice and wellness in the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, where she supervises juvenile delinquency prosecution, school attendance intervention, and restorative justice initiatives involving youth. She also serves as a senior attorney in the division, where she specializes in the prosecution of complex violent felonies and cases involving particularly sensitive victims. Adams was previously an assistant county attorney in the Washington County Attorney’s Office and an assistant public defender in the Second Judicial District Public Defender’s Office. Her community involvement includes volunteering in her children’s school and serving on various committees seeking to create fair and accessible opportunities for youth.

Justin Collins: Justin Collins is an assistant public defender in the Tenth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office in Anoka, where he defends persons charged with felony crimes. He was previously an assistant county attorney with the Washington County Attorney’s Office, where he served on the Washington County Drug Task Force, Washington County Mental Health and Opioid Re-Entry Program Planning Team, and the office’s Equity Change Team. Collins’s community involvement includes volunteering with the American Mock Trial Association, Feed My Starving Children, and the Washington County Food Drive.

Jacob Fischmann: Jacob Fischmann is a senior assistant attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, where he supervises a team of attorneys prosecuting felony level narcotics and property crime cases.?He also served in the Complex Prosecution Unit and the Adult Prosecution Division in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Fischmann was previously an assistant county attorney with the Chisago County Attorney’s Office and an assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in the Public Safety Division and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.?His community involvement includes teaching criminal procedure at St. Thomas School of Law and coaching girls hockey in Woodbury.

Tricia Loehr: Tricia Loehr is an assistant county attorney in the Washington County Attorney’s Office, where she handles juvenile delinquency and child protection matters. She was previously an assistant county attorney in the Dakota County Attorney’s Office and a law clerk for the Honorable Edward Lynch in Minnesota’s First Judicial District. Loehr is the chair of the Washington County Attorney’s Office diversity, equity, and inclusion work group and leads the Washington County multidisciplinary team for sexually trafficked and exploited individuals.

Jennifer Peterson: Jennifer Peterson is an assistant public defender in the Tenth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office, where she represents indigent clients primarily facing felony-level offenses. She also serves as the court-appointed counsel in Anoka County for individuals petitioned for civil commitment as mentally ill and/or chemically dependent.?Peterson was previously a senior assistant director at the Office of Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility, where she investigated and prosecuted disciplinary actions against lawyers, and an assistant county attorney in the Isanti County Attorney’s Office.?She is a member of the Tenth Judicial District’s Equal Justice Committee and the Tenth District Public Defender’s Wellness Committee. Her community involvement includes being a Big Sister and mentor to her Little Sister and volunteering with Twin Cities Rise.

Heather Pipenhagen: Heather Pipenhagen is an assistant county attorney in the Dakota County Attorney’s Office, where she handles criminal appeals and civil commitment matters. She serves on the Minnesota County Attorney Association’s Appellate Advisory Committee and on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules Governing Proceedings under the Minnesota Commitment and Treatment Act. Pipenhagen previously worked as an assistant county attorney in the Washington County Attorney’s Office and as a law clerk to the Honorable Herbert P. Lefler in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. She currently serves on the Scandia City Council and is a member of the Scandia-Marine Lions.

For more information about the judicial selection process, please visit the Governor’s Judicial Appointments webpage.