2020 Attorneys of the Year: Thomas Hagen and Steven Groschen.

Byline: Todd Nelson

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]efense attorney Tom Hagen took the case for a simple reason: He believed what Christopher Kruse told him.

Kruse, indicted on first- and second-degree murder charges, had insisted that an intruder shot and killed his wife, Janette Pigman-Kruse. The shooting occurred early on Aug. 19, 2015, while she was bed in their home in Brewster, a small town in southwest Minnesota.

"It was one of those moments in your career where you say, 'We're going to fight for justice,'" Hagen said.

After a three-week trial with 40 witnesses, a Nobles County jury deliberated 12 hours before finding Kruse not guilty in January 2020. "Dateline NBC" featured the case in in December.

Hagen, lead attorney and a partner in the Kohlmeyer Hagen Law Office in Mankato, laughed at the idea of keeping track of all the hours he and associate attorney Steven Groschen spent on Kruse's defense. David Samb, another associate, pitched in, and the firm's family law attorneys also offered input, Groschen said.

"Everything took more time, more weekends, more late night and we pretty much triple-checked everything," Groschen said.

Hagen, who has been practicing for a decade, had handled third-degree murder cases but never a first-degree murder. He and Groschen read numerous opinions on past cases to prepare and consulted other...