Hennepin County Board OKs Moriarty hiring outside attorneys in state trooper prosecution
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The Hennepin County Board voted Tuesday to allow County Attorney Mary Moriarty to hire outside attorneys using the office’s budget, which will allow her to bring on four former federal prosecutors to handle the prosecution of Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan, who is charged in the fatal shooting of motorist Ricky Cobb II last July.
Moriarty said at the board meeting that her office’s adult prosecution division is about ten attorneys short. She said putting experienced staff attorneys on this case would have hurt their ability to prosecute other violent crimes in the county.
Law enforcement groups and some lawmakers have said Moriarty should be removed from the Londregan case, and that Gov. Tim Walz should appoint Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over, an action that he took on a different murder case last year.
“There are certainly people who disagree with our decisions, but we have never made a decision in our office for political reasons,” Moriarty said. “That’s important, because the people in Hennepin County need to understand that their criminal system is fair.”
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Londregan shot Cobb twice on the early morning of July 31, 2023 as he and another officer tried to force Cobb from his vehicle on Interstate 94. Londregan is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter.
Londregan’s attorneys have said he feared that he or his partner would be killed or injured by Cobb’s car or pushed into oncoming traffic.
Moriarty said she believes Ellison’s office would face a conflict of interest in taking over the case, because his office is representing the state in a federal lawsuit by Cobb’s family alleging that his civil rights were violated.
The board voted 5-1 on a voice vote in support of Moriarty’s request. Attorneys representing Londregan were present at the board meeting.
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association recently sent a letter to board members asking them to select anyone but Moriarty to choose the outside counsel. In a statement after the vote, the organization called it a “blank check to prosecute police.”
“Instead of seeking the competent and cost-saving assistance of the Minnesota Attorney General or one of the other 86 county attorneys, the Hennepin County Attorney has appointed a large Washington D.C. law firm to handle this prosecution,” said the group’s general counsel Imran Ali in a statement. “This law firm will be financially motivated to prosecute this case at the direction of the Hennepin County Attorney, who has a long history of bias towards law enforcement.”
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced in court Monday that they’d be hiring four former federal prosecutors now in private practice to prosecute Londregan after the former lead prosecutor apparently left the case.
Walz has expressed concern about Londregan’s prosecution but has not yet decided to take the case away from Moriarty. Ellison’s office has not requested to take over the case.