Retired Hennepin County Chief Judge Kevin Burke told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS recent comments by Gov. Tim Walz concerning the second-degree murder case against State Trooper Ryan Londregan crossed a line and hurt public trust in the judicial system.

Walz said he was “keeping his options open” about the idea of moving the case from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office into the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Burke said that crossed a line.

“There are going to be a lot of people who will say, ‘Yeah, see this just reinforces the idea it’s who you know that will determine how the justice system operates,’” said Burke.  “And, he made a big mistake by feeding into that.”

Burke said the best way for politicians to help the Londregan case move forward fairly is to simply stop talking about it publicly.

“He made a mistake and that mistake contributes to undermining public confidence in the fairness of the justice system,” said Burke. “So, that’s why I go back to people need to chill out.”