Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was sentenced last Thursday to ‘time served’, to be followed by three years of supervised release, including 12 months of home confinement. According to Bloomberg Law, these sentences come as a result of separate trials for perjury and loan fraud, of which Mosby has been found guilty.
Mosby will also be required to perform 100 hours of community service. The prosecution team initially recommended a 20-month prison sentence, citing Mosby’s apparent lack of regret for her actions. Mosby’s legal defense pushed for ‘time served’ accompanied by a single year of supervised release.
The US Probation Office initially recommended an 18-month sentence, which was adjusted following Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby’s rejection of certain aspects of its guidelines calculation. The eventual guideline ranged from 12 to 18 months of incarceration. Mosby did not make any statement at the sentencing hearing.
Thirteen character witnesses took the stand on behalf of Mosby, including prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump. Addressing the court, Crump argued for leniency, claiming that Mosby’s prosecution was aimed at ‘sending a chilling message’ to progressive prosecutors. Crump insisted it was a minor white collar crime, for which other offenders had received much more lenient punishments.
Mosby was elected State’s Attorney for Baltimore City in 2014 and served until early 2023. She lost the Democratic primary for her third term in July 2022 to Ivan Bates. While in office, she was engaged in several high-profile cases, most notably the attempted prosecution of the officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.
Mosby’s wrongful actions came to the fore when she made false claims while requesting early withdrawals from her City of Baltimore deferred compensation plan in 2020, under the pretense of financial hardship due to the pandemic. The jury found these claims untrue.
The separate trial concerning loan fraud was related to inaccuracies Mosby made to mortgage lenders for loans she availed to purchase two vacation properties in Florida. Mosby is currently represented by federal public defenders in Baltimore and the case is ongoing.