Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the Democrat in charge during the city’s Freddie Gray riots in 2015, avoided jail time on Thursday despite criminal convictions for perjury and mortgage fraud.
U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ordered Mosby to serve just one year of home detention followed by three years of supervised release, according to reports.
This went against prosecutors’ recommendations of a 20-month prison sentence for the former top Baltimore prosecutor, and critics called it an incredibly lenient sentence.
Mosby had faced jail time after a federal jury convicted her in November of two perjury counts for falsely claiming pandemic-related financial hardship in order to make an early withdrawal from Baltimore’s retirement fund.
The funds were then used toward buying Florida real estate.
She was separately convicted in February on one count of mortgage fraud for making false statements on loan applications for those home purchases, though acquitted on a second mortgage charge.
During Thursday’s nearly four-hour sentencing hearing, Mosby’s attorneys pushed for probation while prosecutors argued that fraud from a top prosecutor warranted time behind bars.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve done nothing illegal and nothing criminal,” Mosby claimed about her convictions.
Mosby has repeatedly said it was racist to prosecutor her, despite Mosby herself requesting the investigation that ultimately led to her arrest.
FACT CHECK – The person that requested the investigation that resulted in guilty verdicts by two federal jury trials is Marilyn Mosby. She did so on 7/20/2020 to me. The investigation was complete on 2/9/2021 with business and tax concerns that was turned over to the FBI. pic.twitter.com/NYA8k62Ksl
— Isabel22 (@isabel_cumming) May 20, 2024
Her legal team has formally requested a pardon from fellow Democratic leader, President Joe Biden, arguing in the clemency application that “no such remorse and regret is appropriate in this case” since “justice was not served and, in fact, denied.”
Mosby gained national prominence in 2015 for bringing criminal charges against six Baltimore police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. All of the police officers were either found not guilty, or later had the charges dropped.
Despite avoiding incarceration, Judge Griggsby did order Mosby to forfeit her Florida condominium property as part of the sentence handed down in Baltimore’s federal court on Thursday.
The punishment brings some closure to the high-profile fraud case that ultimately ended Mosby’s once-rising legal career after nearly nine years as Democrat-run Baltimore’s state’s attorney. While spared prison time, the home detention and supervised release terms represent a black mark on her legacy as a former prosecutor accused of gaming the very laws she was meant to uphold.