MINNEAPOLIS — Former chief public defender Mary Moriarty has her sights set on jumping across the aisle and serving as lead prosecutor for residents of Hennepin County.
Moriarty officially declared she was getting into the race for Hennepin County Attorney with a post on Twitter early Monday, indicating she will seek the office being vacated by Mike Freeman after what will soon be 24 years of service. Freeman made the announcement earlier this month, citing both his age (73) and time in office among reasons for stepping aside.
"I have met with countless community leaders and advocates over the past few months. Through those conversations, it has become clear to me that trust in the Hennepin County Attorney has eroded," Moriarty posted. "The Hennepin County Attorney's Office could be a powerful partner to lead transformational reform in the criminal legal system, but we need a leader who has the experience, vision, and courage to create meaningful and lasting change."
The legal veteran served as Chief Public Defender of Hennepin County, Minnesota, from 2014 to 2020, and is known for advocating criminal justice reform. She was removed from the position in 2020 by the Board of Public Defense, whose members expressed concerns about her management style, what they called inflexibility with other criminal justice officials and confrontations on the issue of racial inequality. They also questioned a series of tweets about historic lynchings in the Deep South, Moriarty said.
Law clerks and lawyers in the county public defender's office wrote that they were "shocked and dismayed" by Moriarty's suspension, and disputed the concerns that Moriarty said were raised about her work.
Attorney General Keith Ellison also called for the board of defense to examine the process that led to the suspension of Hennepin County's chief public defender, saying he believed Moriarty was targeted for speaking out against racial bias in the criminal justice system.
Moriarty currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. She served as a legal analyst for KARE 11 during the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
