Mary Moriarty Spent $578K On DC Firm Hired To Prosecute State Trooper

MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty spent $578,000 on the Washington D.C. law firm she hired to prosecute Minnesota State Patrol trooper Ryan Londregan.

Moriarty filed murder and manslaughter charges against Londregan in the shooting of motorist Ricky Cobb II last summer.

The Hennepin County Board approved the hiring after an attorney from Moriarty's office stepped down from the case against Londregan.

Moriarty and the firm, Steptoe LLP, later dropped the case altogether. But only after the firm spent 733 hours on the case, costing taxpayers nearly $600,000, documents show.

On Friday, Moriarty's office released a 69-page report written by Steptoe LLP, detailing their work on the case and their findings.

"When we dismissed the case against Mr. Londregan because of new evidence, I promised to release this report and the grand jury transcript as soon as possible," Moriarty said in a statement.

"While the court denied our request to make the grand jury transcript public, I believe it’s still important to release as much of this information as we can. Such transparency is key to creating community trust. The family of Ricky Cobb II deserves this transparency, as does the larger community."

According to the law firm:

• Moriarty's initial decision to prosecute Londregan based on available evidence was justified.
  • New evidence, such as sworn statements by troopers not previously shared, "made it impossible for prosecutors to prove the case."
• Troopers generally did not "cooperate" during the BCA. or Moriarty's investigation. Approximately 37 MSP troopers either refused to be interviewed or did not reply to BCA interview requests
• Many of the troopers hired lawyers for interviews with the BCA
• Involved troopers delayed submitting reports for more than a week after the shooting
• MSP trainers and officers waited months after the filing of charges to provide additional information related to Trooper Londregan’s training
• Troopers had several non-violent options that could have prevented Mr. Cobb’s death

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which has been intensely critical of Moriarty, said she "unethically prosecuted a cop simply to prosecute a cop. Shame on her."