MN Police Group Files Ethics Complaint Against Mary Moriarty

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association filed an ethics complaint Tuesday against Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

The complaint involves Moriarty and her controversial prosecution of Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Ryan Londregan. Last month, Moriarty dropped the murder and manslaughter charges she previously filed against Londregan in the shooting of motorist Ricky Cobb II last summer.

The complaint was submitted to the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board. It argues Moriarty violated the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct. Specifically, it claims that:

• Moriarty made numerous extrajudicial statements for publication with the intent to prejudice a jury.
• Moriarty repeatedly made false statements regarding key issues in the case in the press and court documents
• Moriarty undermined the administration of justice through her repeated lies, disregard of key facts, and other conduct she has admitted to being politically motivated

"Moriarty’s obviously unethical conduct can be explained only by a desire to prosecute a peace officer—regardless of the facts—to achieve political ends," the association's executive director, Brian Peters, said in a statement.

"Moriarty admitted that even the decision to finally dismiss this case was based on her preferred policy goals, and not in the interests of justice.”

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Moriarty’s office wrote that: "This is an unsurprising action by the MPPOA, an organization that has consistently lobbied against attempts to hold law enforcement accountable and opposed regulations that would ban law enforcement from being involved in white supremacist groups."

Read the entire complaint here.