Attorneys for Cobb family pan political comments on Londregan prosecution

Attorneys for the family of the man who was shot and killed by a Minnesota trooper during a traffic stop last summer are criticizing politicians’ comments about the criminal case stemming from the shooting.

National civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and F. Clayton Tyler, who are representing the family of Ricky Cobb II, released a statement on Monday, calling for Gov. Tim Walz to let the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office do its job.

“We call on Governor Walz to put justice before politics and let County Attorney (Mary) Moriarty bring this prosecution without any further interference. Reassigning this case would create a clear conflict of interests and removing it from the County Attorney should not be an option,” the statement from the attorneys says in part. “Mr. Cobb’s family has suffered enough. They don’t deserve this too.”

The statement comes a week after the governor said he was “keeping his options open” when asked about possibly reassigning to prosecution of Trooper Ryan Londregan to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. A retired judge was also critical of Walz’s comments last week.

RELATED: Walz still weighing options on state trooper case

Walz’s comments came in response to a request from the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which asked him to hand the case to the Attorney General’s Office. Several Republican state lawmakers have also weighed in on the case, many saying the case should be dismissed entirely, and even some members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation have called for the case to be taken out of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s hands.

The case has become increasingly political as Londregan’s attorneys have filed exhibits that seemingly showed prosecutors’ use-of-force expert saying he believed Londregan acted reasonably and a State Patrol use-of-force trainer saying prosecutors took his comments out of context to file charges against Londregan. Prosecutors have reiterated they have “significant evidence” supporting the charges against Londregan and accused the defense of trying to generate inaccurate pretrial publicity.

Londregan is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter in Cobb’s death. The next hearing in Londregan’s case is scheduled for late next month.

The full statement from the Cobb family’s attorneys is below.

“This isn’t about justice. If it was, politicians and the police union wouldn’t be trying to influence an active prosecution. This is about trying to subvert the wills of the grand jury and the people of Hennepin County.

“This family has one ask: that this be treated like any other murder case. We call on Governor Walz to put justice before politics and let County Attorney Moriarty bring this prosecution without any further interference. Reassigning this case would create a clear conflict of interests and removing it from the County Attorney should not be an option. Mr. Cobb’s family has suffered enough. They don’t deserve this too.

“The police union may want to defend a murderer who gunned down an unarmed man. The Governor should not.”

Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and F. Clayton Tyler, attorneys for the family of Ricky Cobb II