MINNEAPOLIS — National use of force expert Jody Stiger, who testified against Derek Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial in Hennepin County, thought he would take the witness stand in the Trooper Ryan Londregan case when it goes to trial. He agreed to be the prosecution’s use of force expert shortly after the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office filed charges against Londregan in the death of Ricky Cobb.
But amid the confusion and lack of communication surrounding the hiring of an outside prosecution team, Stiger decided to remove himself from the case, he told KARE 11’s Lou Raguse on Wednesday night.
“When I heard Larson was taken off the case, I stepped away,” Stiger said.
Stiger was the second use of force expert who agreed to help the prosecution team in the Londregan case, although Stiger was never as involved as Jeffrey Noble was during Noble's tenure in the months leading up to the charges.
Prosecutors decided to no longer use Noble after his initial opinions conflicted with their view of the case. Stiger said he never received a case briefing from prosecutors although they did send him some discovery items to review.
After Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty filed murder and manslaughter charges against Londregan, the Minnesota State Trooper’s defense team emailed Stiger, he said. Since he had a prior working relationship with Minnesota prosecutors from the Chauvin case, Stiger inquired to see who would be prosecuting Londregan before he responded to the defense.
Larson was a member of the Chauvin prosecution team as the most involved member of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office working with Attorney General Keith Ellison’s team, which led that prosecution. Stiger respected Larson and agreed to help him in the Londregan case and serve as the prosecution’s use of force expert.
When Larson was removed from the case – which KARE 11 sources said was at Larson’s request – Stiger read about it in online articles. And when the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office hired DC-based firm Steptoe to take over as special prosecutors, they never contacted Stiger despite his reaching out to the HCAO for clarification, he said.
“I at least thought I’d get a courtesy call,” Stiger said.
In addition, Stiger – who works as Systemwide Director of Community Safety for the University of California's Office of the President – has been extremely busy with campus Gaza protests that have recently grown violent.
“It would have been difficult [to remain on the Londregan case while dealing with issues in California], but because they had Josh I would have been more comfortable,” Stiger said. “But I don’t know this new team.”
Stiger did not want to discuss his analysis of the Londregan case on the record with KARE 11 News.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, Stiger initiated contact with the office after watching the publicly available video and offered his services, the office sent him discovery materials to review, but then the process paused when conversations with Steptoe began. No substantive conversations about the Londregan case took place, and Stiger never offered the office his official opinion on the use of force, according to the office.
On April 7, 2021, Stiger – then an LAPD sergeant – testified in a Hennepin County courtroom that Chauvin used force against George Floyd that was deadly and excessive, and he said the crowd present did not pose a threat to the MPD officers.
Stiger, an expert on police training practices, noted in that testimony that police use of force can sometimes “look awful” while still being “lawful.” Stiger agreed Chauvin’s conduct was “just awful.”
In the Londregan case, training is expected to be the key part of the prosecution’s case. According to the criminal complaint, Londregan violated his training by shooting Cobb while in a moving car.
“We determined… that charges were appropriate without the use of an expert,” Moriarty said after announcing the charges in January.
KARE 11 News later learned that use of force expert Noble, who was retained by Moriarty shortly after the shooting, told prosecutors that Londregan’s use of force was reasonable to prevent his partner from being dragged by Cobb’s car.
With the prosecution’s focus shifting to officer training after that, Stiger could have offered expert testimony on both issues.
When reached and informed of the development, Londregan's defense attorney Chris Madel said, "Nothing, no longer, surprises me about this case."
Following KARE 11's report Thursday, first published at 11 a.m., Madel filed a motion in court accusing the prosecution team of further withholding documents. Madel wrote that three hours after KARE 11's report was published, Steptoe sent him 60 pages of emails between Stiger and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
"Steptoe had the opportunity to disclose the HCAO’s past communications with Stiger and deliberately chose not to do so. The only reason the defense obtained these documents was due to KARE11’s coverage of this case," Madel wrote.
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