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Fred Karasov
Originally published in
the
September 2008 issue.
Author: Michael Goodwin
Fred Karasov
was in the middle of his law school career, and was still unsure
of what he wanted to do with his degree. Over lunch one day, a
friend suggested he consider a career as a prosecutor. “It was
like a light bulb went off in my head,” said Karasov, recently
appointed a district court judge in the Fourth Judicial District
after 26 years as a prosecutor. The idea of going into criminal
law “was a perfect fit” since he was working his way through law
school as a senior deputy sheriff with the Hennepin County
Sheriff’s Office and he had a master’s degree in criminal
justice. Not long after that lunch, he landed a job as a law
clerk in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and was hired as
a prosecutor in that office after passing the bar exam in 1983.
A native of Golden Valley, Karasov earned his
bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and his
master’s degree from Northeastern University in Boston before
earning his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. He
lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Cathy, and has a daughter
and four step-children. In his spare time, he enjoys reading,
running, traveling, and visiting with friends and family. He
has also coached and judged in various moot court and mock trial
programs as well as coached youth soccer, softball, and
wrestling.
Karasov
served in a variety of capacities in the Hennepin County
Attorney’s Office. After starting out in the juvenile division,
he later worked as part of the child abuse prosecution team and
eventually rose to the level of senior attorney. He has also
served as managing attorney in the Juvenile Prosecution Division
and as a supervisor in the Child Protection Section. At the
time of his appointment to the bench in February 2008, he was
prosecuting violent crimes and serving as senior attorney for
all sexual assault cases. For four years, he served as the
office’s director of policy and training where his primary
responsibility was training law enforcement officers in Hennepin
County.
Karasov said he loved his job as a prosecutor
because he enjoyed handling criminal cases, working with victims
and witnesses, and serving the public. Being a judge allows him
to stay in the courtroom and to continue his public service
career. “I think I can make a contribution in a different way,”
he said.
Throughout his career, Karasov has made
contributions both inside and outside the courtroom. He has
been involved in numerous teaching and training programs
throughout the state and country. He has also been a frequent
lecturer and presenter on evidence, child abuse, and sexual
assault issues, and he has taught trial advocacy courses at
William Mitchell College of Law. In addition, he has published
manuals on child abuse prosecution and sexual assault
prosecution for the Minnesota County Attorneys
Association.
He said his
teaching and publishing has helped keep him current on the law
and improve his own skills as an attorney. “The best way to
learn a topic is by researching the subject, preparing the
lessons, and teaching it,” he said.
Karasov also
has a long record of military service. He first served in the
Minnesota Air National Guard from 1972 to1976. From 1988 to
2000, he was an assistant judge advocate in the Judge Advocate
General’s Corps with the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota
Army National Guard. Since then, he has served as a military
judge. Karasov’s military service took him to Kosovo during
2003-04, where he served as the deputy command judge advocate
and worked on issues related to proper expenditure of money for
military purposes. In February 2009, he will be deployed to
Baghdad, where he will be chief of military justice.
Karasov’s
career took another turn when he was appointed to the bench in
February 2008. He said he has a lot of people to thank for his
success, including the people with whom he has worked with
during his career. “I’ve been lucky to have worked with and for
good people and I would not have gotten where I am today without
their support, encouragement, and advice.”
Karasov said
that being a judge allows him to serve justice in a different
way than he did as a prosecutor. He said that he wants people
to feel like they have been treated fairly and respectfully in
his courtroom, even if they do not agree with the way he rules
on an issue. “I want to do my part to increase public
confidence in the justice system,” he said. “I want everyone who
walks into my courtroom to believe that justice has been done,
that I listened respectfully, and that I tried my best to make
an informed decision. I believe that I can influence the way
people perceive the system by the way that I act.”
Further, he
said that it is important for judges to take time to make a
decision if they need to, but also not to cause unnecessary
delay to the legal process. “You’ve got to have the courage to
make the best decision and then not dwell on it or agonize over
it,” he said.
Like any
judge, he expects that the attorneys that appear before him will
be well-prepared and will present sound, succinct, and cogent
arguments. “I expect the same things of lawyers that I expect of
myself,” he said.
Looking back
on his career as a prosecutor, Karasov has never regretted
taking his friend’s advice and he is looking forward to his new
role. “Being a prosecutor is the best of a lot of worlds, and
part of me will miss it, but being a judge is a great job in a
different way, and I am looking forward to this new
opportunity.” |
