Former prosecutor Mosby gets probation for perjury, false claims convictions

Former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby will serve no time in jail.

The Democrat, convicted earlier this year of two counts of perjury and one count of mortgage fraud, will instead serve three years supervised release. One year of that will be served under home confinement as part of a sentence handed down Thursday in Greenbelt by U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby.

“I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Mosby told a throng of supporters and reporters gathered outside the U.S. District Courthouse. “Thank you for the fight. Thank you to everyone that signed that petition.”

Mosby’s brief comments followed a daylong sentencing hearing, during which she declined an opportunity to speak to the judge on her own behalf.

Prosecutors led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney rejected arguments that the case brought against Mosby was unique or aimed at her because of her politics.

“This case is not novel, they are prosecuted daily,” Delaney said of such cases. “This is not selective prosecution.”

Prosecutors sought 20 months in jail plus supervised release, as well the forfeiture of Mosby’s Florida vacation home in Longboat Key. That was more than the 12-18 months in prison recommended in a presentence report, along with as much as five years supervised release.

But Griggsby rejected any jail time.

“After careful consideration and reflection, I have also determined that that sentence is not appropriate in this case,” the judge said.

Instead, Griggsby opted for supervised release and imposed the sentences concurrently. She also included the requirement that Mosby forfeit a Florida vacation home. Mosby’s attorneys argued that she is entitled to roughly 10% of the value of the home, which has nearly doubled since she purchased it nearly four years ago for about $430,000.

Griggsby agreed, saying Mosby can receive 10% of the increased value of the home once it is sold. Mosby’s attorneys said they will ask for a stay of the forfeiture order while they appeal the conviction.

Griggsby, as she handed down her sentence, addressed Mosby directly.

“The court begins with a lament,” Griggsby said. “This is a sad and difficult day.

“The court agrees these are very serious offenses and that this conduct displays a pattern of dishonesty,” she said, noting Mosby’s roles as the top prosecutor in the city and her service to the community.

But the judge said the funds Mosby obtained to buy the Florida house were not public funds and that there was no indication of any misconduct in public office. The money she represented as a gift was her own money and not public funds.

“Most significantly to this court, you are a mother of two daughters and the issue of incarceration and separating a mother from her daughters does weigh very heavily on this court in assessing what sentence to impose,” Griggsby said.

Mosby maintains her innocence. She and her attorneys have vowed to appeal her conviction to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mosby has also applied for a presidential pardon. Nearly 70,000 people have signed an online petition supporting her efforts.

Supporters bused in to sit in the courtroom and in overflow rooms, watched as 13 people testified on Mosby’s behalf. Some of those were among the 30 people who also wrote letters asking for leniency.

Mosby, 44, was still the top prosecutor in Baltimore City when she was charged two years ago with lying on an application to withdraw funds from her city pension account. Mosby, who earned more than $247,000 in the job, claimed she had suffered financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The claims were related to a company she created that ultimately had no clients and conducted no business.

Mosby also was accused of lying to hide the source of money used to purchase a home in Longboat Key, which is used as a vacation rental. She told loan officers under oath that her now ex-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, had given her $5,000 as a gift toward the home when in fact she gave her husband the cash to transfer back to her.

Mosby’s team asked the judge to credit her for “time served” for the time she was in custody as U.S. Marshals fingerprinted and photographed her after she was initially charged — what they conceded was “a token” benefit for Mosby. They also asked for supervised release with six months served as home confinement.

“This is not a public corruption case,” said James Wyda, Mosby’s lead public defender. “All of the allegations involved Miss Mosby’s personal finances.”

More than a dozen people, including family members, prosecutors who served under Mosby in Baltimore City, defense attorneys and others asked Griggsby for leniency. Most cited Mosby’s efforts to restore community trust in the criminal justice system. They called for the judge to not separate Mosby from her daughters.

Several told Griggsby the prosecution was meant as a chilling message to other Black, progressive prosecutors who challenge the legal system and hold police accountable.

“History teaches us that pioneers are targets,” said Ben Crump, a Florida-based civil rights and personal injury attorney, who joined Mosby outside the courthouse Thursday.

Crump called Mosby’s conviction ” a minor white-collar crime.” He said jail time for a nonviolent offense “with no victims” would be out of line with the sentences handed down to others for similar crimes that “amounted to a slap on the wrist.”

“What is different here today is that under the white collar is the neck of a Black woman who dared to challenge the status quo,” Crump said.

When the Florida attorney made those comments during the hearing, it drew an audible reaction from some Mosby supporters seated in the courtroom. Griggsby admonished onlookers on four occasions and repeatedly threatened to clear the courtroom if outbursts continued.

Griggsby, who is Black, questioned defense attorneys about statements from Mosby’s supporters that the case was racially motivated. Wyda sought to distance Mosby’s defense from those comments

“I’ll be candid with you,” Wyda said to the judge. “Do I wish the speakers today had not gone there? Yes. Maybe I wouldn’t be fielding the tenor of these questions, but it is a sentiment in the community. It is an honest feeling.”