WASHINGTON COUNTY, Minn. — Pete Orput, who served as Washington County Attorney for a dozen years, has died after a brief battle with stomach cancer.
A release from the Washington County Attorney's Office said Orput was 66 years old when he died on April 3 in his home, surrounded by his family.
“The people who live and work in Washington County lost more than a county attorney,” said Brent Wartner, first assistant Washington County Attorney. “They lost a champion of public safety, a guardian, a fierce advocate for justice–and a dedicated public servant.”
Orput was elected Washington County's top prosecutor in 2010, then won re-election in 2014 and 2018. He recently announced he would step away from the office after his term ended at the end of 2022. Before he was elected Washington County Attorney, Orput worked as an assistant Hennepin County Attorney in the violent crimes division. He also served as general counsel for the Minnesota Department of Corrections and as a Deputy Minnesota Attorney General.
In 2021, Orput was named a special prosecutor in charge of the high-profile case of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter following the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman referred the case to Orput as part of an ongoing agreement between metro area county attorneys in police use-of-force cases.
Orput made the original charging decision against Potter on April 14 2021, but then returned the case to Hennepin County after activists demonstrated in public and outside his home, demanding that charges be elevated and the case transferred to the Minnesota Attorney General. Freeman then asked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to lead the prosecution team during the trial.
Orput was also appointed special prosecutor in the high-profile case of Byron Smith, a Little Falls man who fatally shot two teens who had entered his home. Smith was convicted of murder in the 2012 deaths of cousins Haile Kifer and Nicholas Brady.
Orput announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection after his term ended on Dec. 31, 2022. His passing triggered tributes from attorneys who lined up both with him and against him.
“This weekend we lost one of our giants,” Isanti County Attorney Jeff Edblad said in a released statement. “Pete evaluated every case under the standard of seeking justice. He had a special place in his heart for those suffering from addiction and for those who found themselves in the criminal justice system because of actions that were a result of mental health issues incurred through service to this country.”
Edblad added that Orput made a difference in the lives of many, through a career of public service that began in the U.S. Marine Corps and continued with the State of Minnesota, Hennepin, Dakota and Washington counties. That service was something the career prosecutor was obviously proud of.
“Serving the people of Washington County has been the highlight of my career,” Orput said in a statement released in early January. “I’m incredibly proud of the important work we’ve done to significantly advance the cause of justice... we’ve established a veteran’s court. We’ve addressed the scourge of opioid addictions. And we’ve locked up sex traffickers and murderers."
Orput is survived by his wife, Tami, six children and six grandchildren.
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