Walz, Moriarty exchange harsh criticisms of each other over dismissed criminal case
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Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty accused Gov. Tim Walz on Monday of meddling in the prosecution of a state trooper while Walz said the murder charges should have never been filed.
The rift between the two elected DFLers was exposed in separate press conferences Monday. It’s notable, given how significant the issue of public safety continues to be in elections and government.
Moriarty announced she was dropping the charges against trooper Ryan Londregan but defended her initial decision to file murder, manslaughter and assault charges in the case.
Moriarty said the prosecution no longer felt it could prove a case that Londregan used unjustified force. She accused the defense team of using intimidation tactics, and also blamed politicians for second-guessing decisions by her office.
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She had harsh words for Walz, whom she called out by name for raising the possibility he would reassign the case to another prosecutorial entity — while suggesting the governor was working to protect the State Patrol that’s under his jurisdiction.
“Have you ever seen this governor intervene in any case, involving a defendant in his entire tenure? Ever?” Moriarty asked rhetorically. “Why is it appropriate for a governor — who has never picked up the phone to call me, who is not a lawyer, who does not understand the nuances of this case — to talk about it publicly?”
Moriarty had previously criticized Walz for stepping in to reassign the prosecution of a Hennepin County homicide case last year, amid concerns about plea deals Moriarty’s office had offered.
A few hours after Moriarty’s Monday press conference, Walz spoke at a ceremonial bill-signing press conference — where he was asked about her comments. Walz acknowledged he planned to remove Moriarty from the Londregan case soon, and said it was “wrong” that charges were ever filed against the trooper.
“There’s a safety net in there to allow an egregious situation like this to be corrected. And, yes, we would have used that to do that,” Walz said.
In a statement following Walz’s remarks, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Nick Kimball said Moriarty became aware of the governor's possibly imminent intervention, but said that “these rumors did not impact the decision to dismiss this case.”