(C) Minnesota Reformer This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Walz, Moriarty clash over case against state trooper Ryan Londregan • Minnesota Reformer [1] ['Michelle Griffith', 'Jennifer Shutt', 'Alex Brown', 'Deena Winter', 'More From Author', '- June', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-06-03 Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty attacked DFL Gov. Tim Walz Monday, accusing him of meddling in her prosecution of State Patrol Officer Ryan Londregan — who shot and killed Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop on I-94 in Minneapolis last summer — because “I’m a queer woman in this role,” she said. Moriarty’s comments to the Star Tribune — which came amid a whirlwind media tour as she explained why she decided to drop murder and manslaughter charges against Londregan — threatened to fracture the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, especially on criminal justice issues. Walz in the past said he was concerned about Moriarty’s handling of the case, and Londregan’s attorney said Monday that Walz’s general counsel reached out to him last week to discuss having the case reassigned to another prosecutor. When a reporter read Moriarty’s quote accusing Walz of sexism and homophobia, the second term governor — after a pregnant pause — said “Well, that’s false. Next question.” Democrats rose to defend Walz, whose progressive record on LGBTQ issues goes back to favoring marriage equality during his 2006 campaign for Congress in the culturally conservative 1st Congressional District. “The quote … from the Hennepin County Attorney is ridiculous. (Walz) was a steadfast champion for the LGBTQ+ community way before many politicians would take the risk,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who is the first out lesbian to represent Minnesota in Congress but has also been an outspoken opponent of Moriarty’s prosecution of the Londregan case. Moriarty also accused Walz of making decisions based on political considerations rather than legal or criminal justice concerns. “I think it’s because he looks at the political winds and which way they’re blowing and I think that’s what he reacts to. Which is horrible. You know, if we want people to trust the system, that’s not the way to do it.” Moriarty said she was dismissing the charges because of new evidence that would have raised ethical concerns if she proceeded with the case. In a statement, Moriarty said two new pieces of evidence would have made prosecution difficult, the first that Londregan’s attorney said the trooper during the trial would testify that he believed Cobb was reaching for his gun. “We would have to disprove this claim beyond a reasonable doubt. The video doesn’t clearly refute that claim (nor does it support it),” Moriarty said. She also said that Londregan’s State Patrol trainer “recently provided a declaration stating that he did not train Trooper Londregan to refrain from physically extracting people from a running car, which is what set these events in motion.” Walz acknowledged Monday he had all but decided to yank the case from Moriarty. “It was my hope that the county attorney would get to this position, that was very clear,” Walz said about Moriarty announcing she would drop the charges. “At some point — had this decision not been made — yes, we would have done that … There’s a safety net in there to allow for an egregious situation like this could be corrected and yes, we would have used that.” After Walz’s media availability, Moriarty released a statement denying that Walz’s potential involvement in the case influenced her decision to drop the charges. “The county attorney became aware of credible rumors about the governor potentially intervening in the case,” Moriarty’s office said in a statement. “These rumors did not impact the decision to dismiss this case. Rather, given the office’s decision to dismiss this case, the county attorney felt compelled to notify the Cobb family and the community as soon as the work was completed.” Chris Madel, Londregan’s attorney, on Monday told reporters that Moriarty should resign over her handling of the case and said Londregan doesn’t regret fatally shooting Cobb. “Does he regret with respect to any of the actions with respect to Mr. Cobb? 100% zero. None,” Madel said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/06/03/walz-moriarty-clash-over-case-against-state-trooper-ryan-londregan/ Published and (C) by Minnesota Reformer Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/MnReformer/