Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty won’t seek second term

Progressive public defender-turned-prosecutor Mary Moriarty announced on Wednesday, she won’t seek a second term as Hennepin County attorney but will focus on creating “enduring change” in the final 17 months of her term.

“We’ve become accustomed to elected officials who don’t deliver results and end up more invested in clinging to power than doing the work of the people. That is not me,” Moriarty said in a statement. “I want to focus on running the office, rather than running for office.”

Moriarty handily won election in 2022 by 16 percentage points against a tough-on-crime opponent, riding a wave of energy for criminal justice reform in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd.

Moriarty looked to transform an agency she spent decades fighting against as a public defender, promising to focus on rehabilitation over incarceration.

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She largely delivered on that promise but became a lightning rod for frustrations with crime rates that, while declining, have remained elevated since the pandemic. She faced sharp criticism – even from some of her own supporters, at times – for seeking alternatives to prison even for heinous crimes.

Her decision to offer two juvenile brothers plea deals sparing them lengthy prison sentences for the murder of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever drew public outcry and a rebuke from progressive ally Attorney General Keith Ellison, who had endorsed her.

In a rare move, Gov. Tim Walz yanked the case from her office over her objections and assigned it to Ellison. He secured a 130-month prison sentence for one of the teens and a life sentence for the man who orchestrated the murder.

Moriarty, who vowed to draw a hard line against police abuse, again invited controversy in charging state trooper Ryan Londregan with the murder of Ricky Cobb II despite her office’s own expert witness determining the use of force was justified. She paid more than half a million dollars in taxpayer funds to a private law firm to prosecute the case, only to drop the charge.

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Moriarty, in a news release announcing her decision, boasted of her office’s successes in violence prevention efforts like the Youth Auto Theft Early Intervention Initiative, which intercepts juveniles likely to steal cars and connects their families with resources like food assistance and mental health services.

Her office ran expungement clinics for people who completed their sentences and created the first “Conviction Integrity Unit” to review past cases for errors. Her office supported the exonerations of Marvin Haynes and Edgar Barrientos-Quintana, who were serving life sentences for murders they did not commit.

She also touted her work fighting labor violations, having secured the first felony wage theft conviction in Minnesota.

Before running for Hennepin County attorney, Moriarty spent 31 years as a public defender. She rose through the ranks to head the Hennepin County public defender’s office, but was ousted in 2020 over allegations she shared offensive social media posts and created a fearful work environment. Moriarty and her supporters say she was targeted for her racial justice advocacy, and she was awarded a $300,000 settlement.

She said she believes voters will elect a successor who shares her progressive vision. Indeed, Rep. Cedrick Frazier, a labor lawyer and former public defender, announced he was considering running to replace Moriarty.

Editor’s note: This story was written by Max Nesterak and originally appeared in the Minnesota Reformer. Nesterak is the deputy editor of the Reformer and reports on labor and housing.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and uncovering stories other outlets can’t or won’t report. It is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity.