Murder charge added in teen's shooting death on Fond du Lac Reservation

Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
·3 min read

Mar. 5—Prosecutors have added a third-degree murder charge against the Brevator Township man accused of fatally shooting his friend in late December.

Joseph James Fohrenkam, 18, already was facing a felony count of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Joseph James Peterson, 16. But he now faces a significantly stiffer sentence if convicted of murder.

Authorities said Fohrenkam was "showing off" his pistol when he discharged it, apparently by accident, while drinking with Peterson and three other friends in a car on the Fond du Lac Reservation. Fohrenkam and his mother allegedly went on the run before they were arrested more than week later in northwestern Minnesota.

Fohrenkam pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge Feb. 1. But St. Louis County prosecutor Nate Stumme filed an amended criminal complaint with the murder charge last week.

While a manslaughter conviction would lead to a presumptive prison term of about four years, Fohrenkam is now looking at 12 1/2 years under state sentencing guidelines if convicted of murder.

According to court documents, Fohrenkam and Peterson were among five young people drinking alcohol in a car outside the defendant's house, 3609 Giiniw Road, in the early morning hours of Dec. 28.

The three other occupants later told police that Fohrenkam was waving a firearm around, "pointing the gun at everyone in the truck (and) messing around" when he suddenly shot Peterson.

A criminal complaint indicates that the witnesses were intoxicated and did not all clearly observe what led up to the gunshot, but one said Fohrenkam may have accidentally bumped the center console while putting the gun away, causing it to fire.

Fohrenkam allegedly could be heard arguing with his mother, Little Fawn Fohrenkam, during a 911 call placed by one of the witnesses. The other witnesses were allegedly directed to leave the residence before police arrived.

The Fohrenkams were arrested Jan. 6 in an apartment near White Earth Tribal and Community College in Mahnomen County, Minnesota. Authorities said Little Fawn initially provided a false name and that Joseph was found concealed within a couch. The mother and son allegedly had shaved their heads and ditched their car in order to hide their whereabouts.

Joseph Fohrenkam has remained jailed on $400,000 bail, with Judge Eric Hylden in February declining to lower the figure over concerns that he could be a flight risk.

The manslaughter charge alleges he caused Peterson's death through "culpable negligence whereby the defendant created an unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to another."

The murder charge alleges that he killed Peterson, without intent, "by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life."

Both mother and son made brief appearances in State District Court in Duluth on Thursday.

Joseph Fohrenkam told Hylden he was finalizing the hiring of a private attorney and intends to discharge the services of the public defender's office.

Little Fawn Fohrenkam, 38, is under pretrial supervised release while facing a felony count of aiding an offender to avoid arrest. She has yet to enter a plea, and public defender J.D. Schmid said he hasn't yet had an opportunity to review some 2,000 pages of discovery with his client.

Hylden scheduled new hearings for both April 2.

Recommended Stories

  • China says will deter Taiwan independence but seek peaceful ties

    China will resolutely deter any separatist activity seeking Taiwan's independence but is committed to promoting the peaceful growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait and China's "reunification", Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday. China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased its military activity near the island in recent months, responding to what it calls "collusion" between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan's main international backer and arms supplier.

  • Kamala Harris casts tie-breaking vote to allow debate on Biden’s Covid relief bill to begin in Senate

    Polls suggest more than 70 per cent of the American public back the legislation

  • Democrats want to send $350B to cities and states with Biden's COVID-19 relief bill, but Republicans see it as wasteful

    President Joe Biden's COVID-19 aid bill includes $350 billion for state and local governments, but Republicans say it's wasteful and unfair.

  • White House scoffs at idea Trump deserves credit for vaccines, saying half a million Americans died under his watch

    Vaccinations have jumped from 900k to 2m a day under Biden administration

  • Trump inadvertently boosts Biden's stimulus messaging with another statement raging against McConnell

    Former President Donald Trump has released a new post-presidency statement, and Democrats might just be glad he did. The former president, who remains permanently banned from Twitter, released a statement Thursday once again raging against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), blasting him as the "most unpopular politician in the country" while blaming him for Republicans' Senate losses in Georgia — losses for which Trump himself has been blamed by other Republicans. One of the reasons Republicans lost the two Georgia Senate runoffs in January, Trump argues, was "Mitch McConnell's refusal to go above $600 per person on the stimulus check payments when the two Democrat opponents were touting $2,000 per person in ad after ad." The statement offered "quite the pre-stimulus political gift to Democrats," wrote National Journal's Josh Kraushaar, while The Washington Post's Dave Weigel noted that Trump "remarkably" used this opportunity to "validate Biden's messaging on the $1,400 checks instead of whacking him and Democrats for curtailing them." Remarkably, Trump also uses this statement to validate Biden's messaging on the $1400 checks instead of whacking him and Democrats for curtailing them. "The $2000 will be approved anyway by the Democrats." https://t.co/M9dXoX13VS — Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 4, 2021 Indeed, Trump writes that "the $2,000 will be approved anyway by the Democrats," while offering no comment on the fact that the new checks are actually for $1,400, nor on Biden's recent compromise that narrows the eligibility. Politico's Gabby Orr observed that Trump "could have put out a statement saying the income phase-outs in the Biden stimulus bill are going to mean he gave checks to more Americans," but "instead he's still targeting his own party with stuff like this." This was just Trump's latest statement in this vein after he released another one last month describing McConnell as an "unsmiling political hack." He also mentioned McConnell in a recent Conservative Political Action Conference speech, in which he took credit for McConnell's recent re-election. McConnell told Fox News he "didn't watch" the speech and that "we're dealing with the present and the future, not looking back to the past." More stories from theweek.comTrump wants revenge on Alaska's Sen. Murkowski. His advisers think he won't follow through because the flight is too long. 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearanceWhy the Dr. Seuss 'cancellation' is chilling

  • Alec Baldwin quits Twitter — where 'you can't do irony' — after accent joke

    Actor Alec Baldwin broke up with Twitter and rebounded with Instagram after a joke apparently about Gillian Anderson's accent backfired.

  • Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle's wedding-dress embroiderer says she hasn't heard from the royal family since revealing she's on the brink of homelessness

    "It just makes me feel like I don't exist," Chloe Savage, who worked on Kate Middleton's and Meghan Markle's wedding dresses, told Insider.

  • Man pictured with feet on Pelosi's desk yells at judge: "It's not fair"

    The Arkansas man who was pictured with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk during the Jan. 6 insurrection had an outburst in court Thursday, yelling at the judge and his own lawyers that it isn't "fair" he is still in jail, KNWA reports. Background: Richard Barnett, 60, has been asking to be freed on bond since he was arrested days after the attack at the Capitol, per the New York Times. Barnett lost his patience after D.C. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper continued his trial until May 4.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.“I’ve been here a long time … another month … It’s not fair,” Barnett said, per KNWA. “You’re letting everyone else out, I need help,”He has pled not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building, and theft of government property.Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • Hilaria Baldwin opens up about having 2 babies who are 'almost like twins'

    The 37-year-old podcaster and yoga instructor recently welcomed her sixth child with her husband Alec Baldwin, about six months after their fifth.

  • Supreme Court rules against immigrant who was denied chance to make his case against deportation

    The Supreme Court is considering several immigration cases as President Joe Biden has vowed to unwind policies implemented by Donald Trump.

  • The young Afghan media worker who risked all for women's rights

    Last December, Afghan media worker Shahnaz Mohmand rushed to comfort her female colleagues as they reeled in shock after fellow employee Malala Maiwand was shot dead in the eastern city of Jalalabad. "Don't lose yourself, you have to be strong," she said as she hugged Nadia Momand, the 21-year-old producer recalled. Now the same newsroom is mourning Shahnaz.

  • WandaVision's Paul Bettany confirms he was trolling Marvel fans about highly-anticipated cameo

    Who's been trolling Marvel fans? It's been Paul Bettany all along. The WandaVision star on Thursday admitted he was joking when he repeatedly hyped up a major cameo in the hit Disney+ show, as he was apparently just talking about himself. During numerous interviews promoting the series, the Vision actor teased that he got to work with "an actor that I really admire and that I've always wanted to work with," adding that "we have these explosive scenes" together. Fans spent weeks trying to figure out who he meant and getting excited for a massive surprise cameo, with one popular guess being X-Men star Patrick Stewart. But then the penultimate WandaVision episode last week revealed another Vision also played by Bettany, leading fans to ask if they just got pranked because the actor he was talking about was actually, well, Paul Bettany. While appearing on Good Morning America on Thursday, Bettany said that's, indeed, what happened. "You know when you think something's gonna be funny, and you say it, and then you absolutely panic about it?" Bettany said. "Which is what I did, because fans started guessing who it might be, and they were guessing people like Benedict Cumberbatch or Patrick Stewart, and I was thinking, 'God, that's a good idea!' And they're gonna be so disappointed when they find out it's me." Then again, could it be that it's actually this interview that's a fake-out? Michael Strahan wondered whether "you could be trolling us right now" with the admission, and when he asked Bettany if the finale truly does have a surprise cameo, he wouldn't say. But fans perhaps shouldn't get their hopes up, and when asked recently whether Bettany was joking, WandaVision director Matt Shakman told HuffPost, "I'm gonna let Paul Bettany answer that question. He dug himself this hole. He can get out of it." Will there be a big appearance by someone special in the finale of #WandaVision? @Paul_Bettany would love to answer but he's too busy pretending to have technical difficulties. https://t.co/i9rZzYvW4s@wandavision@disneyplus pic.twitter.com/GDg979zFgS — Good Morning America (@GMA) March 4, 2021 More stories from theweek.comTrump wants revenge on Alaska's Sen. Murkowski. His advisers think he won't follow through because the flight is too long. 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearanceTrump inadvertently boosts Biden's stimulus messaging with another statement raging against McConnell

  • Here's what to wear to your vaccination appointment, according to experts

    Dolly Parton recently wore a cold-shoulder top to get vaccinated. Here's what to wear to your COVID-19 vaccination appointment, from face masks to sleeveless shirts.

  • Putin calls for internet bound by moral rules, criticises opposition rallies

    President Vladimir Putin called on Thursday for the internet in Russia to be bound by moral rules to stop society fraying and railed against what he said was its role in drawing children into opposition street protests, prostitution and drugs. The comments come amid mounting efforts by Moscow to exert greater influence over U.S. social media giants and frustrations over what authorities say is their failure to follow Russian laws. As tens of thousands rallied to protest the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny earlier this year, Moscow accused U.S. social networks of failing to take down fake posts about anti-Kremlin demonstrations earlier this year.

  • Is Brooklyn Beckham married? Mom Victoria just gave the answer in her birthday post

    Is Brooklyn Beckham a married man?

  • Anger in Lebanon as currency, prices spiral out of control

    Protesters in Lebanon burned tires and closed several major roads on Thursday as the severe economic crisis gripping the country continued to spiral out of control with no progress on the formation of a new Cabinet. In a new low, a fistfight broke out inside a supermarket in Beirut, apparently over the purchase of subsidized powdered milk. The Beirut supermarket issued a statement later saying the fistfight broke out when a shopper attacked a branch manager who told him he cannot buy large amounts of subsidized milk and oil without considering the restrictions.

  • Frontline workers react to Texas ending COVID rules. ‘Worst message we can send’

    Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he was rolling back Texas’ mask mandate and reopening the state “100%.”

  • Court raises bar for some immigrants to avoid deportation

    The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for longtime immigrants who have been convicted of a crime to avoid deportation. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 5-3 conservative majority that ruled against a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. illegally and has lived in the country for 25 years. The man, Clemente Avelino Pereida, had been charged in Nebraska with using a fraudulent Social Security card to get a job and convicted under a state law against criminal impersonation.

  • Trump wants revenge on Alaska's Sen. Murkowski. His advisers think he won't follow through because the flight is too long.

    Don't bet on former President Donald Trump traveling to campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — and not because of any sudden change of heart. A new report from The Washington Post discusses the Alaska Republican's influence during President Biden's administration, as well as the fact that Trump is "vowing publicly and privately to work to oust her" as she seeks a fourth Senate term in 2022. Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, and she's reportedly "higher on his list of enemies" than other lawmakers, coming in just under Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) At the same time, the Post reports that while Trump "does want to spend money against" Murkowski, some "people in his circle doubt, though, that he will be as much of a potent force in the race because traveling to campaign against her would require such a long flight, which Trump generally avoids." There's also the fact that, the Post says, Trump's advisers "recognize the complexity of winning in Alaska," which uses ranked-choice voting, though the report adds that it's likely Murkowski will face pro-Trump opposition in the race in some form. Trump recently went after Murkowski during his first speech since leaving office at the Conservative Political Action Conference, naming her while he slammed a series of Republican "grandstanders" and called on supporters to "get rid of them all." Murkowski has defended her vote to impeach Trump, saying she couldn't "be afraid of" the political repercussions and that if Alaska voters decide that "because I did not support my party that I can no longer serve them in the United States Senate, then so be it." More stories from theweek.com7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearanceTrump inadvertently boosts Biden's stimulus messaging with another statement raging against McConnellWhy the Dr. Seuss 'cancellation' is chilling

  • Apple investigated in UK over 'unfair' App Store claims

    The Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into how Apple's app store is run.