A day after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced she would drop murder and manslaughter charges against a Minnesota state trooper, Gov. Tim Walz, who has publicly criticized Moriarty's handling of the case, revealed that he had planned to use his legal authority to remove her from the prosecution.

"Yes, we would have done that," Walz said at a news conference Monday, adding that if Moriarty had not dropped the charges against 27-year-old Ryan Londregan he would have taken action "soon."

"I think what became apparent to many folks is that there were problems with prosecution from the beginning," he said.

The governor's comments fueled speculation as to Moriarty's motives for the surprise dismissal, adding to a firestorm of allegations of impropriety from all sides in a case that has engulfed Minnesota once again in the national politics of policing and use of force.

Moriarty accused Walz of sexism, homophobia and conflict of interest in undermining her office in favor of a criminal defendant who works for a state law enforcement agency Walz oversees. Brian Peters, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which is funding Londregan's defense, called Moriarty a "liar," alleging that she dropped the case in a "chess move" to avoid embarrassment. And Londregan's attorney, Chris Madel, said that Moriarty was simply "hellbent on prosecuting a cop."

Moriarty's office charged Londregan with murder and manslaughter in January for the fatal shooting of Ricky Cobb II, 33, during an early-morning traffic stop on I-94, as Cobb shifted into drive and the vehicle lurched forward. A judge recently set a trial date for September. But on Sunday, Moriarty told the Star Tribune she decided to dismiss the charges based on an expert's analysis of video from the scene combined with statements from the defense about what Londregan planned to say on the stand.

At a court hearing in April, Madel said Londregan feared for the life of his partner, Brett Seide, because he believed Cobb was reaching for Londregan's gun during the July 2023 traffic stop.

"Now as to the believability of that, I won't comment," said Moriarty, but it changed her team's analysis because the prosecutors had "never heard" that legal claim before. Another review of the video showed Cobb's hand flailing upward, which the expert determined made the shooting lawful.

Madel convened a news conference Monday afternoon seeking to poke holes in Moriarty's narrative, which he called "delusional."

At his downtown office, the defense attorney reviewed key evidence, pointing to the defense's first court filing on Jan. 24 — the day charges were filed — revealing Londregan used deadly force against Cobb "to protect: (1) Trooper [Seide] from death and/or great bodily harm; and secondarily, (2) himself from death and/or great bodily harm."

"Is there something ambiguous about this? No. The county attorney had this from Day 1," he said, rebutting claims that new evidence emerged. "For her to come out now and say 'Oh my gosh, I had no idea the defense was hiding this great evidence' is just plain absurd."

Madel also brushed off any notion that troopers should have allowed Cobb to simply drive away from the traffic stop, insisting that Londregan acted heroically to save his partner's life. He sought to cast Londregan as the victim — a young trooper whose life was unraveled by the criminal prosecution – who now deserves an apology. Madel passed out binders filled with dozens of social media posts about the case, some of them threatening toward Londregan and his family.

"They can't stay in their own home because of these threats," he said, noting that Londregan was shell-shocked by Sunday's dismissal.

Madel told reporters that Walz's general counsel reached out to his office last Tuesday to inquire if the defense was still interested in the governor's intervention.

"I said 100% yes."

The lawyers told him Attorney General Keith Ellison would be required to reassign the case to another prosecutor to avoid a conflict of interest, given that his office represents the State Patrol and is responsible for defending troopers against civil litigation.

Walz's office confirmed this version of events.

Moriarty's announcement came the same day a report recommending dismissal of the charges was issued by outside counsel from Steptoe LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based international law firm that contracted with Moriarty's office after Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson stepped aside as lead prosecutor.

The nine-page report says that although the troopers' tactics were flawed in that they failed to de-escalate the confrontation, they were "not demonstrably contrary to their training."

"Suffice it to say, the ability of the State to rebut Londregan's justification for his use of deadly force diminished substantially in the months since he was charged," the report says. "As a result, the charges can no longer be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

Accusations abound

Following Walz's revelation, Hennepin County Attorney's Office spokesman Nick Kimball said Moriarty "became aware of credible rumors about the governor potentially intervening in the case," but that "these rumors did not impact the decision to dismiss this case."

Moriarty said Walz never contacted her during the prosecution. She criticized the governor for his past comments on how her office handled the case, given Walz oversees the Department of Public Safety and therefore the state troopers and Londregan.

"I think it's because I'm a queer woman in this role," Moriarty told the Star Tribune. "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."

Walz denied that bias played into his comments. "Well, that's false," he said. "Next question."

Moriarty spoke at length about hypocrisy and "system barriers" she said impede prosecutors from holding law enforcement officers accountable, including false claims filed in court documents by Londregan's attorneys about how her office used a grand jury. She also criticized the MPPOA, a statewide association for law enforcement, for asking Walz to intervene while waging a concerted campaign against her credibility, leading to threats toward Moriarty and her staff and uncomfortable spectacles for the Cobb family.

"The defense team, paid for by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, encouraged over 100 supporters to be bused in, handed out free 'Support Londregan' T-shirts, and created a gantlet downstairs that the Cobb family was forced to walk through to get to court," she said Monday at a news conference, describing law enforcement showing up to protest the prosecution at a recent court appearance. "Some of them taunted Ricky Cobb's twin brother, Rashad. Members of our staff were frightened at the spectacle, which reminded them of Jan. 6.

"How is this behavior acceptable?" Moriarty continued. "Where is our humanity for the Cobb family? Where is the respect for the trauma that they and the community have suffered? Because make no mistake, Ricky Cobb was the victim in this case. Ricky Cobb should be alive today."

Law enforcement officials said they took offense to that characterization, describing the crowd of supporters that day as peaceful. "Most of the people there were cops, and didn't instigate anyone or intimidate anyone," said MPPOA's Peters. "And it was, unfortunately, the supporters of Ricky Cobb that came and created problems."

Londregan remains on paid leave until the internal investigation is completed and it's not yet clear when he might be reinstated. Despite the reservations of his family, Madel said, Londregan is "eager to get back on the job."

Asked whether Londregan regrets any of his actions that day, Madel replied: "100% zero. None."

Star Tribune staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.