MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty went on the offensive Monday, saying she is making no apologies for her decision to charge a state trooper with murder in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II.
At a press conference less than a day after announcing charges against Ryan Londregan are being dropped, Moriarty apologized to the Cobb family and said she doesn't believe the trooper's claim that Cobb was reaching for Londregan's gun in the moments before he opened fire. Still, the Hennepin County Attorney claims, she believes the one-time defendant's projected testimony would make the case unwinnable for her office and prosecution team.
While speaking of what she called the "systematic barriers" that prevent law enforcement officers from being prosecuted in the deaths of community members — particularly Black males. Moriarty compared Cobb's case to the killing of George Floyd.
"Time after time our Black community is told there can be no criminal accountability because of system barrier after system barrier after system barrier," she said.
Moriarty singled out the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), accusing the organization of, among other things, encouraging the organization of arranging to bus in more than 100 people, giving them t-shirts supporting Trooper Londregan, and then massing in a gauntlet inside the Hennepin County Government Center before a court appearance. The county attorney says the crowd intimidated the Cobb family and frightened her staff, saying the spectacle "reminded them of Jan. 6."
She told reporters that MPPOA hired three high-powered attorneys to defend Londregan, accusing the defense team of peppering her office with motions and "manufactured busywork" to tie up her staff and slow down the legal process. She said the defense posted a video assailing her office early in the proceedings that left her and her prosecutors feeling "threatened."
Ultimately, Moriarty says, the defense withheld the information about what Londregan's projected testimony would entail, which she acknowledged was Londregan's constitutional right. Had she known about his claims about Cobb reaching for Londregan's gun — claims Moriarty said bodycam video could neither support or refute — her charging decision might have been different.
Following Moriarty's statements, Londregan's attorney Chris Madel also met with reporters, calling the county attorney's press conference "delusional" and "unfair," suggesting her office owes Londregan an apology.
"What I saw today at that press conference, it was delusional and unhinged and was remarkably unfair to my client. He deserves an apology," he said.
Madel proceeded to show reporters a presentation containing apparent documents connected with the case, while pointing out alleged discrepancies in Moriarty's claims.
"What I heard today is, 'Oh, my gosh, there’s all this new evidence that the defense team put in front of us,'" Mabel said, attempting to poke holes in Moriarty's alleged timeline.
He went on, "Is there something ambiguous about this? No. The county attorney's office had this from day one with respect to this case."
Madel then called the county attorney's accusations "just plain absurd" before hurling his own allegations at her.
"This county attorney was hellbent on prosecuting a cop," he said. "She could not wait for a case like this to come up."
When reporters asked whether Londregan plans to continue as a law enforcement officer, Madel said Londregan "still wants to be a cop" and is "eager to get back to the job."
Not spared in the crosshairs was Governor Tim Walz, who Moriarty also put squarely in her sights, blasting him for getting involved in a criminal matter for which she believes he had no role. In March, the governor spoke to reporters after the MPPOA called for the Minnesota Attorney General's Office to take over the case, amidst allegations Moriarty was trying to bury the opinion of an expert who believed Londregan's use of force was justified.
"In a case like this, transparency is king," Walz said at the time. "I listen to people, whether on health issues or law — I'm not a lawyer myself — but as a layman on this, why would you not listen to a use-of-force expert? Why would that not be central to something you would do?"
"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? To center Mr. Londregan as the victim in this case?" Moriarty posed at Monday's press conference. "Why has that been appropriate... why has that not been called out?"
Moriarty also believes Walz has a conflict of interest in the Londregan matter, as the State Patrol runs the governor's security detail, noting that Walz also oversees the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which conducted the investigation into Cobb's shooting. She also alleged that Walz has not intervened in a case for a defendant in his entire tenure as governor.
On Monday afternoon, Walz held a bill signing ceremony making the straw purchase of a firearm a felony offense in Minnesota. When asked by reporters for a reaction to Moriarty's comments, the governor said he didn't pressure her to drop charges against Londregan, but added he would have removed the case from the HCAO had she not reached that conclusion.
"There certainly was no politicization in this, we need to make sure our justice system is fair, and I think what became apparent to many folks is that there were problems in this prosecution from the beginning, and this (charges dropped) is the right place it needed to end," the governor insisted.
Madel said he received a call from Gov. Walz's general counsel Tuesday, May 27 asking if he was still interested in the governor reassigning the case, which Madel responded, "100%, yes."
"We were then told, 'Listen, if this goes to Attorney General Ellison, that he's going to reassign it to somebody else because of a conflict of interest," Madel recalled. "I said I was fully aware of that, and that I was confident that any reasonable, independent, fair prosecutor would dismiss this case."
The Minnesota State Patrol Association sent out a response immediately following Moriarty's news conference, accusing her of abuse of power and ethical misconduct and manipulating facts, among other things.
"The Minnesota State Patrol Troopers Association (MSPTA) condemns the prosecutorial abuse of power in the case against Trooper Londregan," reads the statement. "The decision by the Hennepin County Attorney to charge Trooper Londregan, despite clear evidence supporting his adherence to legal standards, highlights significant ethical violations and political grandstanding that undermine the justice system's integrity."
Jeff Potts, the executive director Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, sent a letter to Moriarty on Tuesday, calling the Hennepin County Attorney's statements "reckless, irresponsible and not based in reality."
The full letter reads:
Dear Hennepin County Attorney Moriarty,
As the organization representing the 300+ police chiefs and over 150 Command staff personnel from law enforcement agencies from all over the state, we have serious concerns about comments you made during your recent news conference at which you attempted to explain your decision to dismiss all charges against State Patrol Trooper Ryan Londregan.
We join many other leaders, lawyers, and experts who recognized that Trooper Londregan should never have been charged in the first place. Your website says your mission is to “prosecute crimes with fairness and integrity.” It is our opinion that you have failed at both in this matter, your bizarre attacks on all law enforcement officers were beyond the pale.
Your statements were reckless, irresponsible and not based in reality. For example:
- You claim "nothing has changed since George Floyd." That would come as a surprise to legislators who passed more than 25 police reforms in the months and years following his death. Many of those reforms were recommended by Minnesota Working Group on Police Involved Deadly Force Encounters chaired by Attorney General Keith Ellison and former Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington. The Minnesota Police Accountability Act, signed into law by Governor Tim Walz in 2020, included changes to the threshold for police use of deadly force and required all law enforcement agencies to update their written policies to include a duty to Intervene in excessive force situations as well as several other reforms including law changes on traffic stops as recently as last month.
- We’re dumbfounded by your assertion that "system barriers" are the reason why you ultimately chose not to prosecute this case. The “system” had nothing to do with the analysis of your own use-of-force experts or the conclusion of your group of special prosecutors that you could not prevail at trial and the charges were not warranted. Try as you might, you can’t make the facts fit your desire to vilify all police officers.
- Your insinuations that all use-of-force cases are the same and every incident has racial overtones is simply not true. Every case is different and comes with unique circumstances. While you have never served as a police officer, please know that the decision to use deadly force has never been made lightly, even more so following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent changes in the law, regardless of the officer’s race or ethnicity.
- You referred to "summary execution" as a result of Ricky Cobb choosing to not comply with a lawful order of a police officer. That inflammatory language is absurd and very inaccurate. Mr. Cobb, who was wanted for violating a domestic abuse order for protection, was attempting to get away, dragging two troopers in the process.
In your news conference you said, "I mean, I am capable of doing my job. I am doing it here, right? It will probably have some political consequences for me, but as I've always said, the people didn't elect me to make political decisions. They elected me to make courageous ethical decisions."
We agree that politics shouldn’t be your guide when lives and reputations are at stake; following the rule of law should be. We sincerely hope that you will make sound, ethical decisions for everyone, including the men and women who are protecting and serving our communities in an extremely difficult environment. Your apparent anti-law-enforcement comments and actions are detrimental to public safety and for everyone.
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