Year in Review 2020: Murder trial ends in acquittal The jury ruled that the Nobles County Attorney's Office failed to prove Kruse's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Written By: Leah Ward | × Christopher Kruse (with headphones) was emotional after hearing that the jury had declared him not guilty in the August 2015 murder of his wife, Janette Pigman-Kruse. (Leah Ward/The Globe) WORTHINGTON — This past year began with a three-week jury trial of a local man accused of murdering his wife in 2015, which resulted in a verdict of not guilty. Chris Kruse, now of Worthington, was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of the murder of Janette Pigman-Kruse. Both Kruse and his family, including his in-laws, insisted that he was innocent, and the case was scheduled for a jury trial. The stakes were high for Kruse, as Minnesota law says that for a conviction of first-degree murder, the sentence is life in prison.