A St. Louis County grand jury has indicted a Duluth man on a charge of first-degree, premeditated murder.
Terrance Leon Callender, 48, was previously charged with one count of second-degree murder for the July 29 shooting death of James Alton Peterson. Callender was being held in the St. Louis County Jail on $500,000 bail for that charge.
The grand jury returned the first-degree murder indictment Wednesday. Callender made his first court appearance on the charge Friday morning in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth.
Prosecutor James Nephew asked Judge Gerald C. Martin to increase Callender's bail to $750,000. Defense attorney Laura Zimm asked the judge to leave bail at $500,000, noting that Callender has been in jail since his arrest, unable to raise bail. Martin left bail at $500,000. Callender's next court appearance will be Tuesday. At the state's request, Martin dismissed the second-degree murder charge.
Nephew and Zimm both declined to comment on the case after Friday's hearing.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to the original criminal complaint against Callender, an argument over $20 and a slap led to the fatal shooting of Peterson -- Callender's neighbor -- outside the Hillside Laundry, 103 W. Fourth St., shortly before 8:30 p.m. July 29.
Callender was arrested without incident about two hours later in the vicinity of Fourth Street and Fourth Avenue East. The .38 Special revolver believed to be used in the shooting was recovered later.
According to the complaint, Callender talked to two people near Second Avenue East and First Street and admitted to killing someone at the laundromat.
Callender "further said that he had gotten into a silly argument with the victim over $20 and the victim had slapped him," the complaint said. "The defendant said that he went to his apartment at 107 W. Fourth St., retrieved a handgun, went back downstairs, returned to the laundromat and shot the victim."
The medical examiner determined that Peterson had been shot three times. The first shot struck Peterson in the head, perforating his carotid artery. The next two shots passed through his lungs.
Peterson was caretaker of Hillside Laundry. He also worked for Senior Friend Home Care in Duluth, where he made daily visits with clients requiring in-home assistance. His murder was Duluth's second of the year.
