WTF 6/5/2024

Legal mumbo jumbo in Minneapolis case of trooper charged with homicide of Back man during traffic stop…  

On the morning of July 31, 2023, two troopers pulled 33-year-old Ricky Cobb II, who was Black, over for a traffic stop. The troopers body and dash cam video from the state patrol shows the taillights were out on the vehicle Cobb was driving. Trooper Ryan Londregan arrived to assist.

After checking Cobb’s license the troopers found what is called a “pick up and hold” on Cobb, meaning the nearby Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office suspected he committed a felony violation of a protection order and wanted to question him. The

According to a Minnesota State Patrol report a check was made to ensure Ramsey County deputies still wanted Cobb in custody, at which point the troopers tried to get Cobb to leave his car. He refused.

Body and dash camera footage shows that the troopers opened his doors and attempted to pull him out, with one of the troopers attempting to unbuckle his seat belt, at which point Cobb’s vehicle begins to move, causing two of the troopers to fall to the ground. That’s when Trooper Ryan Londregan, who is white, fired two rounds that entered into Cobb’s torso. After the vehicle eventually came to a stop, Cobb was found dead inside.

The Hennepin County coroner ruled Cobb’s death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds.

Londregan was charged with and pleaded not guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter.  

Now this past week Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced she had filed a notice of dismissal of charges against Londregan in Cobb’s shooting death.

In a following press release Moriarty justified the dropping of the charges against Londregan due to “several new pieces of evidence that would make it impossible for the State to prove that Mr. Londregan’s actions were not an authorized use of force by a peace officer.”

Moriarty further stated that the new evidence is that Londregan planned to testify he saw Cobb reach for Londregan’s firearm and that a state patrol trainer said he never instructed officers to refrain from shooting into a moving vehicle during an extraction, even though it is best practice.”

Moriarty said her office concluded the judge would have likely granted a motion of acquittal by the defense during trial… that the case would have never made it to a jury to deliberate upon.

She added,  “For those who say this was a political decision, absolutely not.” Despite telling reporters prior to those words that the trial was fueled politically and that her team faced threatening attacks throughout the process. 

And also despite that prior to her announcing her decision to drop all charges that Governor Tim Walz (surprisingly a Democrat) was strongly said to be pressuring her to drop the charges.

A circumstance that was essentially confirmed by Walz himself when after Moriarty’s announcement he told the press that he would have used his power to take the case from her and hand it to the attorney general’s office if she had not dropped the charges.

Then when all was said and done Moriarty incredulously told reporters, “Make no mistake: Ricky Cobb was the victim in this case. Ricky Cobb should be alive today.”

A federal lawsuit filed by Cobb’s family claims Londregan and Brett Seide unreasonably seized Cobb by ordering him out of the car without explaining if he was under arrest, and by reaching into the car and grabbing him in an attempt to “forcibly remove him.” And that the troopers also used “unnecessary, excessive, and deadly force” on Cobb resulting in his death by gunshot wounds.

Attorneys representing Cobb’s family released the following statement:

“The simple fact is that, regardless of how many absurd excuses Trooper Londregan gives to try and absolve himself, he shot and killed Ricky Cobb II at point blank range without any justification and, instead of prosecuting him for murder, the County Attorney’s Office has bowed to political pressure to drop the charges. Apparently, all you have to do to get away with murder is to bully the prosecutors enough and the charges will just go away.

They also said, “While we are disappointed, we are not surprised because, like many, we have come to expect the absence of justice and accountability when Black lives are lost in this country. In fact, the state of Minnesota has repeatedly demonstrated that Black lives simply are not valued whether it’s Daunte Demetrius Wright, Philando Castile or Ricky Cobb II.”

And not for nothing Hennepin County is where in May 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked a global protest movement and a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing and that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was charged with  and convicted of the murder of Floyd.

I’m not sure if Moriarty and her team could have gotten their conviction if the case went to a jury but hell who knows… juries sometimes surprise us all with the verdicts they bring back.

And yeah, maybe the judge would have granted a motion of acquittal or that the governor would have interceded and taken the case from her… but…  

In my mind it isn’t the job of prosecutors to decide not to file charges simply because they don’t think they’ll win the case or that something else might occur to bamboozle a successful prosecution… especially if they believe the charges involved were warranted from jump street.

It’s their job to prosecute the case if they believe a crime was committed. If they lose after giving it their best effort, so it goes.

Or maybe it would have been due to other forces to intervene to muck the prosecution’s case all up…. then let it happen.

Moriarty would have done her job… or attempted to the best of her ability to do it. Let the judge or the governor reveal their worst selves…

And how afraid they possibly are because maybe that a jury of we the people just might find another white Minneapolis cop guilty of committing the murder of Black man.

Another thousand words…