People come to me because they’ve been accused of a crime and many of them, in fact, have committed some kind of crime perhaps not exactly what they’re charged with. But they are not that crime. They’re a human being and they’re not defined simply by the charge against them.

I received a number of awards when I was a public defender for felony trail work. A number of times won the district award for the most felony trials in a year. One award that was very important to me was the special award which the public defender’s office gives.

We have a continuous history of fine lawyers who have taught and mentored other young lawyers who in turn, grow into the practice and mentor other young lawyers.

I’m from Winona here and I went to the University of Minnesota Law School graduate in 1982. From there I went to one of the biggest law firms in the state and worked in civil litigation for about four or five years. After that, I came back to my hometown here. Actually, the at that time senior partner in this firm was someone I had known since I was five-years old. Had a daughter in my grade school class and our families went to the same church, so Dick Darby brought me.

I’m president of a corporation, which owns a school here we operate it as a nonprofit educational institution. We operate a full time school. We operate programs at Winona State and the Winona YMCA.