Talking Points: Hennepin Co. Attorney Mary Moriarty addresses controversy surrounding juvenile cases
MINNEAPOLIS — For 30 years, only two people held the office of Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman and before she was a U.S. Senator, Amy Klobuchar.
The 2022 race for Hennepin County Attorney was closely watched. In a crowded field, Mary Moriarty was easily victorious. But her tenure so far has been controversial.
Esme Murphy takes a look in Sunday's Talking Points.
Mary Moriarty has been the county attorney for 10 months. In March of 2023, after she had been in office just a couple of months, Moriarty offered a controversial plea deal to a 15-year-old allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever, who recently became a mother, in Brooklyn Park.
The plea deal called for the teen defendant to serve 18 to 24 months in a juvenile correctional facility, with probation upon release until the age of 21. Moriarty's decision was criticized by not just the family of the murder victim, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the state's largest police association and some community leaders.
In a highly unusual move, Gov. Tm Walz got involved, ordering the case to be taken over by Ellison.
Other cases handled by Moriarty's office have also resulted in public controversies.
From 2014 to 2021, Moriarty was the county's chief public defender and before that, for 25 years she was a public defender.
Moriarty denies that, as a chief prosecutor, she is approaching cases from a defense attorney's point of view.
Moriarty was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
"I approach this from the role of the county attorney. County attorney is a much more complex role than the public defender, as a public defender you are advocating for one person at a time. As county attorney I have to look at public safety , part of that is listening to families and victims, part of it is insuring public safety for Hennepin County," Moriarty said.
Moriarty also clashed with Ellison in the school resource officer controversy. After Ellison issued an opinion that police officers were protected if they used certain types of restraints on students, Moriarty issued an opinion saying she believes that the officer are not protected. The governor and top legislators say they plan to work on changing the wording of the new law the first weeks of the new legislative session, which begin in February.
You can watch WCCO Sunday morning with Esme Murphy and meteorologist Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
