A Washington, D.C. law firm hired by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has charged the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) $578,320 for their work on Moriarty’s case against Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan.
The law firm, Steptoe LLP, billed the HCAO for over 732 hours of work on the case. Invoices released by HCAO indicated that Steptoe first began working on the case on April 23 and completed their work on June 10.
“Hey, [Hennepin County Attorney], if you’re going to continue to dole out such ridiculous $$$, the [Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association] would really appreciate a donation. Email me & I’ll send you a link,” Londregan’s attorney, Chris Madel, said in response.
In January, Moriarty brought three felony charges against Trooper Londregan, including second-degree unintentional murder. The charges were connected to a July 2023 incident that resulted in the death of Ricky Cobb II.
Moriarty’s decision to charge Londregan, and her office’s handling of the case, were roundly criticized by law enforcement groups, elected officials, and many Minnesotans. At the beginning of June, Moriarty officially dropped all the charges against Londregan.
During the course of the legal proceedings, the Hennepin County Attorney hired Steptoe to work on the case.
Speaking at a press conference the day the charges were dropped, Moriarty said her office hired outside lawyers from Steptoe for a variety of reasons. These reasons, she said, included low staffing at HCAO and concerns about HCAO lawyers being the subject of “retaliation” from law enforcement for working on the case. Additionally, Moriarty said other prosecuting offices in Minnesota were not interested in taking the case because they were either short-staffed or they did not want “to be the recipient of the defense attacks that they knew would come along with this case.”
At the same press conference, Moriarty announced that Steptoe would compile a report which details the timeline of the case and how the prosecution developed.
However, that report could not be released publicly because it contained sealed information about the grand jury proceedings in the case. Earlier this month, Moriarty asked the court to unseal the grand jury proceedings so the full report could be released. Last week, the court denied Moriarty’s motion.
As such, the Hennepin County Attorney released a redacted version of the 69-page “Steptoe Report” late Friday afternoon. The invoices and billable hours related to Steptoe’s work were also released at the same time.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
