Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty provided an explanation on Tuesday for the hiring of four outside prosecutors in the case of State Trooper Ryan Londregan.

Moriarty told the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners that her office is facing staffing challenges and that is why she hired four former prosecutors from a Washington, D.C. law firm to handle the Londregan case.

RELATED: HCAO adds 4 ex-federal prosecutors to new team handling Trooper Londregan case

Londregan’s been charged with unintentional homicide, manslaughter and assault in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II, who was shot after attempting to drive away from a traffic stop on I-94 last year.

Moriarty said her adult prosecution division was down 10 attorneys.

“Those are the lawyers who have the most experience that can handle murders, sexual assaults, the most serious cases we have,” said Moriarty. “So, we just don’t have the resources right now to be able to pull the experienced lawyers to be able to handle what is a resource-intensive case.”

Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde asked Moriarty if the expected $1 million expense for the out-of-state attorneys, which is within Moriarty’s existing budget, could go higher.

“How fast do you think they may use up the million? Is there any kind of idea? Are we gonna get halfway through a case and, ‘Okay we gotta have another million?’ And, would that be something we approve later?” asked Lunde.

Moriarty said calculating the total at this point is difficult.

“What I can say about that is this; in criminal litigation, and in civil litigation, we never exactly know. Is it going to be a trial? Is it going to settle? How much work is going to be required?” said Moriarty.

RELATED: Londregan appears in court as dozens rally in support of trooper