Former top prosecutor of Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby, has avoided jail time and been sentenced to one year of house arrest for mortgage fraud and perjury charges.
On May 23, U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Maryland’s former attorney to 12 months of home confinement, 100 hours of community service, and three years of supervised release. While hugging her supporters following the anticipated sentencing, Mosby said she is “grateful.” “I’m just so incredibly grateful,” Mosby said outside the courthouse.
“This is not over, but God was here today, and I know he’s with me; he touched the heart of this judge and has allowed me to go home to my babies.”
The 44-year-old was
charged and found guilty in November 2023 of lying about finances surrounding early withdrawals from retirement funds during the COVID-19 pandemic and found guilty again in February 2024 of fraudulently claiming that $5,000 was a gift from her then-husband when it was hers while closing on a condo in Florida. While maintaining her innocence, Mosby did not address Griggsby, who told the defendant, “It’s a sad day for Mosby and her family.”The judge continued, “It’s also a sad day for the city of Baltimore,” adding the former prosecutor engaged in a“pattern of dishonesty” while serving in a public office.
Since Mosby’s crimes did not affect taxpayer money, Griggsby shied away from sentencing her to the recommended 20 months in prison from Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney. “Are there victims, and who are they?” she asked. “It’s a good question, your honor,” Delaney said. “I get it. This isn’t an embezzlement case.”
Separating Mosby from her two young daughters also “weighed very heavily” on the judges’ decision.
Mosby, who gained heavy notoriety after charging six police officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray in 2015, had heavy support from civil rights leaders in her case. The NAACP and other organizations, including the National Council of Negro Women and the National Urban League, sent a letter to President Joe Biden in support of Mosby to request her pardon. “The only thing Marilyn Mosby is guilty of is the desire to provide her family with a better life,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said.
“The sad reality is, as Black women take their rightful places in positions of power, dark forces seek to tear down both their progress and that of our community.”
During an interview, she told Joy-Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s The Reid Out, that she believed she was “targeted.” “A four-year-long investigation where they’ve combed every aspect of my life. “They issued subpoenas to all of the Black churches five months before my reelection not only to get me out of office but they’ve done this to demonize me and to vilify me and to break me – break me psychologically, break me professionally, break me spiritually, break me financially,” Mosby said.
“I’ve lost everything.”
But all may not be lost. In addition to her sentence, according to CNN, Mosby was ordered to forfeit 90% of her interests in the connected Longboat Key, Florida, condo, and the property will be seized according to a preliminary order. Once sold, Mosby could receive up to $47,600 plus 10% of the home’s appreciation value.