Brehm: Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is an embarrassment for Minnesota

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Minnesotans seem to like seeing their state in the national headlines. We’ve always been a proud people, with historically much to be proud of. So it’s understandable why we get excited when the North Star State makes coast-to-coast coverage. But our latest claim to countrywide fame shouldn’t be a source of delight to anyone.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is eclipsing even the self-aggrandizing Gov. Tim Walz in the hefty amount of national coverage she’s getting these days. And it’s not making Minnesota look very good.

Earlier this month, headlines all over the U.S. revealed that Moriarty had become the target of a Justice Department civil rights investigation due to her astonishing directive ordering attorneys under her command to execute selective prosecutions based on race. Moriarty’s “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants” instructs lawyers in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office that “racial identity … should be part of the overall analysis” when it comes to deciding what kind of plea deals to offer and that her team “should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate.”

It’s hard to believe that in the year 2025 the chief prosecutor of Minnesota’s largest county is implementing a two-tiered system of justice dependent on a defendant’s skin color. The law should be adjudicated impartially. Dermatology should have no place in it.

There is too much retributive investigation taking place at the Trump DOJ these days, but this isn’t that. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment prohibits state and municipal governments from denying anyone “equal protection” under the law based on race, and the Justice Department is right to scrutinize whether Moriarty is violating it. If the inquiry determines that she is, which certainly seems to be the case, Attorney General Pam Bondi should take whatever action is needed to stop her.

There remains a great deal of work to be done to heal race relations in Minnesota and close unacceptable racial disparities in housing, education and other areas here. But prosecuting certain defendants less harshly than others simply because of their race is illegal, racist and increases cultural division at a time when we should be working on reducing it.

Sadly, Moriarty’s discriminatory prosecutorial style isn’t her only source of spotlight. While the office of Hennepin County Attorney is officially nonpartisan, she sure isn’t, and the politics of lawbreakers matter a lot when it comes to how her office treats them. Earlier this spring, a Minnesota state government employee was caught dead to rights vandalizing six Tesla automobiles (all individual felonies) as part of a national and often violent protest campaign against Elon Musk. Yet Moriarty declined prosecution in that case and let the man off without any jail time. In contrast, on the very same day she announced that leniency, Moriarty charged a 19-year-old woman, who keyed a single car and had no prior criminal record, with a first-degree felony. Apparently, if crime is committed in the name of the right left-wing cause in Hennepin County, it need not be punished as harshly.

And voters should never forget the national infamy Moriarty brought last year when she tried to throw state trooper Ryan Londregan in prison for simply doing his dangerous job with heroism. Londregan likely saved his partner’s life when he used justified lethal force against a felon who attempted to flee during a traffic stop while Londregan’s fellow state trooper was partly in the suspect’s vehicle and being dragged onto a busy interstate. Thanks to the brilliant work of defense attorney Chris Madel and the grace of God, Moriarty’s scandalous charges against Londegran were ultimately dropped. But the message to police remains clear: Mary Moriarty is out to get you.

Violent offenders breathe a sigh of relief in Hennepin County knowing Moriarty has a soft spot for them. But those brave men and women who wear a badge there fear not only the criminals we ask them to protect us from, but also a county prosecutor hell-bent on destroying the law enforcement profession through reckless criminal prosecution and demoralization.

Whenever I find myself in Minneapolis and encounter one of the city’s police officers, I make a point to shake his or her hand and say thanks for keeping us safe. I encourage readers to do the same. While every profession has bad actors in it that should face consequences, including law enforcement, most officers are valiant and selfless public servants. The MPD has been the target of too much scorn and not nearly enough commendation. Morale and officer recruitment have suffered as a result. If voters want to turn that around, firing Moriarty next November would be a powerful way to do it, signaling to Minneapolis police that we have their back just as they have ours.

Minnesota’s national reputation has suffered in recent years. Our now below-average GDP per capita, dropping student test scores, rising crime and scandal-plagued state government have hurt the Land of Lakes’ once impeccable brand. We have a lot of hard work to do to regain our standing. We can start by ridding ourselves of embarrassing and dishonorable public officials such as Mary Moriarty.