Walz likely prompted dropped charges against trooper, analysts say

Ryan Londregan case: Walz intervention role

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told FOX 9 he was going to take the case of Minnesota Trooper Ryan Londregan being charged with shooting Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop out of the Hennepin County Attorney's hands "soon" based on evidence that he had seen.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Mary Moriarty’s political platform promised police reform.

Now that she's Hennepin County Attorney, politics may have pushed her away from those promises.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told FOX 9 he was going to take the case of Minnesota Trooper Ryan Londregan being charged with shooting Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop out of Moriarty’s hands "soon" based on evidence that he had seen.

Her office says they believed that was coming, but it didn’t prompt her decision.

Still, political analysts say it probably played a role

It took eight weeks and a police union request for Gov. Walz to weigh in for the first time on Moriarty’s January decision to file a murder case against Trooper Ryan Londregan for the killing of killing Ricky Cobb II.

"I’m not a lawyer myself, but as a layman in this, why would you not listen to a use of force expert?" the governor said on March 18.

"Our governor has been very active in inserting himself into this case," Moriarty said Monday.
She singled out the governor as she lashed out about what she called the politicization of the case she decided to drop 11 weeks after Walz’s initial comments.

"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?" Moriarty asked rhetorically.

"The fact of the matter is that every other attorney came to the same conclusion I did," Gov. Walz responded at a press conference later Monday.

The governor says he always hoped Moriarty eventually would see it the same way as him.

But he was planning to intervene soon if she didn’t come around.

"There certainly was no politicization in this," Walz said. "We need to make sure that 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."

Sources at the Capitol tell us it's not rare for the governor to be at odds with fellow Democrats who are further to the left than he is, with the Uber/Lyft situation being another recent example.