Over victim’s objections, ex-Ramsey County public defender, assistant AG spared prison for sex abuse

Over his victim’s objections, a former Ramsey County public defender and assistant attorney general convicted of criminal sexual conduct for multiple assaults on his onetime romantic partner was sentenced to four years of probation and 90 days of electronic home monitoring.

Adam Kujawa, 38, of St. Paul received the term Monday in Washington County District Court. He had entered an Alford plea in March to charges of felony sexual predatory conduct and gross misdemeanor fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that a jury would have likely found him guilty at trial.

He will have to register as a predatory offender and have no direct or indirect contact with his victim.

As part of the plea, what is known as a “global plea agreement,” other criminal sexual conduct charges related to the same victim were dismissed in Ramsey, Cook and Crow Wing counties, and Aitkin County prosecutors also agreed not to file or prosecute a first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge it had prepared.

Kujawa resigned from the Ramsey County public defender’s officer earlier this year after entering his plea. Kujawa was sworn in as assistant attorney general in 2013 and stayed with the office until 2017. That year, he joined Ramsey County as a public defender.

Court documents portray a toxic relationship full of sexually explicit text messages, infidelity and accusations of sexual abuse from the woman who says she felt trapped in the relationship with Kujawa for four years and was frequently forced to have sex with him. She told police that initially in the relationship the sex was consensual. But eventually, she said, if she refused, he would get violent and torment or stalk her. Two witnesses told police they observed Kujawa verbally and sexually assault her.

The woman was not present in court. A victim advocate for Ramsey County read her impact statement detailing the effects of Kujawa’s “psychological, physical and sexual abuse for over three years.”

“I want to make very clear that what Adam Kujawa did to me is something that words cannot ever capture,” the statement read. “The depths to which he destroyed a kind and happy person cannot ever be expressed justly in text.”

The impact statement also alleged that Kujawa was given preferential treatment in the legal process due to his previous employment as a public defender and assistant attorney general — specifically that Judge Siv Mjanger allowed Kujawa to chose his own psychosexual evaluator.

“I have been mortified to see that Adam was right, he, a wealthy white attorney will not face consequences and will receive special, extremely lenient treatment,” the statement read. “My voice was squashed, just as Adam had said it would be.”

The Star Tribune does not identify sexual assault victims unless they consent to being named.

Mjanger pushed back on the allegation that there was preferential treatment given, and asked Washington County probation officer Tracy Dillard if the process had been routine through Canvas Health, a certified community behavioral health clinic in Stillwater.

“That is correct, they are an entirely neutral entity and not affiliated with the defendant in this case at all,” Dillard said. “It was a neutral agency that conducted that psychosexual evaluation, at my direction.”

His attorney, David Lundgren, noted that while Kujawa was not a victim in this case he found it unfair to say his client had received preferential treatment in the legal process.

“Mr. Kujawa is a good man,” Lundgren said, mentioning Kujawa’s family sitting behind him along with six of his former colleagues from the Ramsey County public defender’s office. “He is not a violent person, he is not a manipulative person. He is someone that cares about others first.”

Later, Kujawa stood and addressed the court, “I hope to be able to continue to serve my community,” he said.

Kujawa’s victim wrote in her statement that her sense of community and belief in the legal process had been shattered. She wrote that she carries mace with her at all times, to the grocery store or the mailbox and that she had spent years waiting for justice while being subjected to “excruciating medical appointments, interviews, collecting and submitting painful evidence.”

“He has taken much from me and I know I am not alone,” the statement continued. “I truly look for the best in everyone, but this experience has taught me that this person is something I can find no good in.”

Star Tribune staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this story.