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LAS CRUCES - Services will be held today in Ogden, Utah, for one of the county's former top prosecutors, Kara Jan Polson Peterson, who died Jan. 22 at the age of 41 after a three-month battle with cancer.
Peterson grew up learning how to deliver, care for and rope calves in Farr West, Utah, according to her obituary. A violinist and award-winning home economics student, she graduated high school with honors and immediately joined an exchange program that took her to France. After graduation from Utah State University, where she met her husband, Jason Peterson, in 1991, Peterson earned her law degree at Willamette University, in Salem, Ore., and the pair settled in Las Cruces.
Starting out at the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office, Peterson eventually headed up the High Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area prosecution unit and presented classes nationwide for the National Alliance for Drug-Endangered Children.
After nine years, Peterson turned to private practice, specializing in family law, serving on the board of Community Action Agency and teaching criminal justice at New Mexico State University as recently as last semester. Her contributions volunteering at the 3rd Judicial District Court Pro Se Clinic were honored by the Supreme Court of New Mexico.
