Citing prosecution expert, defense attorneys say trooper Ryan Londregan ‘committed no crime’
Updated: 8:07 p.m.
Attorneys for a Minnesota state trooper who fatally shot a man during a July 2023 traffic stop allege in court filings that an expert whom the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office hired told prosecutors that the officer’s use of deadly force was justified. Trooper Ryan Londregan, 27, is charged with murder, manslaughter and assault in the death of Ricky Cobb II.
At a news conference in January, Moriarty said Londregan had no legal justification to kill Cobb, 33. She said under Minnesota law, police are not allowed to shoot a driver to prevent them from getting away, and they may only use deadly force if it will prevent great bodily harm or death.
In September, Moriarty said she’d found an independent use of force expert to consult on the case. But at the January news conference, Moriarty said that she made the charging decision based on evidence from investigators and did not rely on outside help.
In court documents filed Monday, defense attorneys Christopher Madel and Peter Wold write that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office hired use-of-force expert Jeffrey J. Noble in the days after the incident.
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The defense attorneys are asking Judge Tamara Garcia to order prosecutors to provide them with all documented communications with Noble. In a separate filing, assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson writes that the request is an “improper, burdensome fishing expedition,” and that the state “already has provided summaries of statements,” that Noble made.
Noble, who served as a deputy chief of two California police departments, testified for Ramsey County prosecutors in the trial of Jeronimo Yanez, the former St. Anthony police officer who was acquitted in the 2016 shooting death of Philando Castile. Noble told jurors that Yanez’s actions were “objectively unreasonable.”
Just before 2 a.m. on July 31, Trooper Brett Seide stopped Cobb along Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights. Seide soon learned that Cobb was wanted for a felony violation of a domestic violence protection order.
About 20 minutes after the initial traffic stop, Trooper Ryan Londregan joined Seide. In body and dash cam video, Londregan is seen approaching the passenger side of Cobb’s car. Seide walks up to the driver’s door and tells Cobb to exit the vehicle. With his hands visible, Cobb questions Seide as the officer repeatedly orders Cobb to hand over the car keys.
Another 35 seconds pass before the troopers open the car doors and Londregan, with his gun drawn, shouts at Cobb to get out of the car.
With Seide leaning into the driver’s door, Cobb takes his foot off the brake. As the vehicle moves forward, Londregan fires twice and strikes Cobb in the torso. The troopers fall to the ground, get up, then run back to their squad cars. One is heard saying that Cobb dragged him.
Cobb’s car moves a quarter mile down I-94 before crashing into a concrete median. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said investigators recovered a handgun from the rear floor of Cobb’s car.
Madel and Wold, citing notes from prosecutors that they obtained through the discovery process, write that during an Oct. 13 meeting, Noble told Moriarty and six members of her staff that “a reasonable officer in Trooper Londregan’s position would have perceived that Trooper Seide was in danger of death or great bodily harm, specifically from being dragged by the vehicle as it continued to accelerate.”
The defense attorneys added that “Noble, the [Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s] handpicked expert, told the HCAO that Trooper Londregan committed no crime.”
Madel and Wold contend that Moriarty “ignored” Noble’s advice when she decided to charge Londregan.
Noble did not respond to requests for comment from MPR News.
In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Nick Kimball writes that the defense “selectively quoted a partial sentence of a lengthy document” and is “abusing the legal process to initiate inaccurate pretrial publicity in this case.”
Kimball writes that the expert’s comments were based on a preliminary meeting with the prosecution team, and he did not arrive at a “legal conclusion” about Londregan’s actions.
Kimball added that the expert admitted not knowing about Minnesota’s new deadly force law and acknowledged needing more information.
After the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, Minnesota lawmakers approved stricter deadly force standards. The new law mandates that a threat must be “articulated with specificity” before an officer may use lethal force.
Also Monday, Minnesota House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth and other Republican elected officials held a news conference where they called on Moriarty to resign and for an investigation into her decision to charge Londregan.
Moriarty responded to the press conference in a statement, saying Republicans want to impose separate legal standards for police and civilians.
“They are eager to prosecute the state’s most vulnerable constituents, but believe bringing a prosecution against an officer who fails to protect, and in fact harms, community members is grounds for resignation,” Moriarty said in the statement to MPR News. “Their demand for my resignation isn’t about this prosecution. They haven’t seen the case file, have not talked to us about the investigation, and don’t know any of the facts. They simply think police who abuse their power are off limits. That attitude has had deadly consequences in Minneapolis.”
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected in court March 21 to present arguments over whether the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office must disclose more of its communications with Noble to Londregan’s defense team.