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Crime, Law and Justice
Jon Collins

Hennepin County could spend up to $1 million to prosecute case against state trooper

A group walks into a courthouse.
Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan enters the Hennepin County Government Center on March 21.
Kerem Yücel | MPR News

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Hennepin County could spend up to $1 million to bring on outside attorneys to prosecute a Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan who fatally shot Rick Cobb II last summer, according to a contract released by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.  

The four attorneys from Steptoe LLC are former federal prosecutors. The attorneys will be paid a rate of $850 dollars an hour while paralegals will be paid $250 an hour, according to the contract. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty received permission from the county board this week to make the hires. 

Moriarty said in a statement that bringing on outside attorneys is necessary because the case will be “resource-intensive” and require lots of pre-trial litigation. 

“These former federal prosecutors with impeccable credentials will be singularly focused on this case while the rest of our team continues the critical work of prosecuting the high volume of other serious cases that are central to safety in our community,” Moriarty said. 

State Trooper Ryan Londregan shot Ricky Cobb II twice on the early morning of July 31, 2023 as he and another officer tried to force Cobb from his vehicle on Interstate 94. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Londregan in January with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter. 

Attorney Karima Maloney will take the lead in the case. She’s the former deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil RIghts Division’s criminal section. Maloney will be joined by former Southern District of New York prosecutor Michael Bromwich, who has led investigations into the Baltimore, Md., and Boise, Idaho, police departments. 

Former Southern District of New York Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Poscablo and former U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland supervisor Steven Levin will also try the case.   

Law enforcement groups have criticized the charges against the state trooper and want Moriarty removed from the case, arguing that she’s biased against law enforcement. Gov. Tim Walz has expressed concern about the charges, but he has not committed to removing Moriarty.