Former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby is seeking a presidential pardon as she faces decades behind bars for perjury and mortgage fraud.
The former prosecutor, 44, insisted MSNBC Joy Reid claimed she has done “absolutely nothing wrong, nothing illegal, nothing criminal,” and argued that it would be “appropriate” for Biden to throw out her conviction.
Mosby said her conviction was a “political attack” on her, and Reid cited her decision to charge police officers involved in the controversial death of Freddie Gray in 2015 as the reason she “found herself on the other side of the courtroom.”
Her sentencing is scheduled for May 23, after a jury found her guilty of illegally withdrawing funds from her city pension and lying on a mortgage application for a Florida home she bought with that money.
Former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby is seeking a presidential pardon as she faces decades behind bars for perjury and mortgage fraud.
Mosby, seen after her conviction in February, insisted she had done “absolutely nothing wrong, nothing illegal, nothing criminal,” and argued that it would be “appropriate” for Biden to throw out her conviction.
At her trial, the court heard how Mosby lied on her mortgage application for a $428,000 home in Long Boat Key, Florida, including falsely claiming that she received a $5,000 gift from her husband.
Prosecutors said she claimed to have received the $5,000 to secure a lower interest rate, while in reality she sent the funds to her husband first for him to return later in a financial sleight of hand.
In her interview with MSNBC, Reid said she was surprised that Mosby was prosecuted for withdrawing “her own money,” as she suggested that Mosby’s past run-ins with Republicans might have made her a target.
Mosby, a progressive whose soft-on-crime stance was blamed for rising crime in murder-ravaged Baltimore, was specially charged by Democratic U.S. Attorney Erek Barron and her trial was overseen by Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, nominated by Biden, reports Capital Gazette.
Speaking of herself in the third person, Mosby said she sees her past actions as State’s Attorney as the reason she faces prison, adding that she hopes the people she fought for will now step forward to support her.
“If they can do this to Marilyn Mosby, who had the audacity to challenge the status quo, they can do this to anyone,” he said.
“I want this justice system that I fought so hard for to equalize and balance the scales of justice, where the business model is built on the backs of black and brown people.”
Her call for a presidential pardon comes as an online petition directed at President Biden reached nearly 10,000 signatures, which she did not launch herself but has reportedly been promoting.
However, despite believing that a pardon would be “appropriate,” he has also not submitted a request to the Office of the Pardon Prosecutor, which reviews cases and makes recommendations to the president.
This luxury condominium located in Longboat Key, Florida, was the property that Mosby lied about in the mortgage documents.
Mosby falsely claimed she was facing COVID-related financial issues to use her city retirement fund to help her purchase property in Kissimmee. She claimed this house was a second home to get a lower interest rate.
When asked about forgiveness, Mosby added: “I know I have done absolutely nothing wrong, nothing criminal, and to be separated from my children for 40 years as a result of withdrawing $90,000 of my own money, there is simply no benefit to me.” my”. sense.’
“They have done this to demonize me, to vilify me and to break me… I have lost everything.”
But while Mosby argues that his conviction is unfair, his critics said his “failed leadership” while in office exacerbated Baltimore’s crime problems.
“The consequences of that failed leadership will last for generations,” Dave Goitia, a police officer and Medal of Valor recipient, told DailyMail.com following his conviction in February.
“The victims are Baltimoreans who suffer violent crime because of a police department that is completely demoralized.”
In particular, Mosby was criticized for her handling of the controversial 2015 death of Freddie Gray, whose death in police custody sparked rioting and looting throughout the city until Mosby filed charges against six police officers who arrested him.
After she failed to convict any of the police officers amid accusations that the charges were unfair (and the Justice Department declined to bring charges after a federal investigation), some law enforcement officials argued that she gave in to the pressure from rioters and targeted officers as “sacrificial lambs.”
Mosby also had his own brushes with the law, including a $45,000 tax lien on one of his fraudulent properties in Florida even though he reportedly earned nearly $250,000 a year.
Mosby was heavily criticized in law enforcement circles for her handling of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray (pictured), who died in police custody. Mosby failed to convict any police officer involved and a judge is said to have “laughed at her outside of court”
Gray’s death sparked riots and looting throughout Baltimore, resulting in 113 police officers injured and 486 people arrested, as critics argued that Mosby bowed to pressure to unfairly press charges.
Mosby lost reelection in 2022 after being indicted by a federal grand jury, and her successor Ivan Bates took a tougher stance on crime.
The federal criminal charges arose from allegations that Mosby claimed pandemic-related difficulties in making early withdrawals from his retirement account and then used that money for down payments on Florida properties.
At her trial, prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky alleged that she repeatedly lied on mortgage applications, telling the court: “She was the top prosecutor for the city of Baltimore and supervised hundreds of attorneys.”
—Do you know what prosecutors know so much about? Fraud. Mortgage fraud.