Marilyn Mosby facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marilyn Mosby
25th State's Attorney of Baltimore
In office January 8, 2015 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Gregg Bernstein
Succeeded by	Ivan Bates
Personal details
Born	Marilyn James (1980-01-22) January 22, 1980 (age 45) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Nick Mosby ​ ​ (m. 2005; separated 2023)​
Children	2
Education	Tuskegee University (BA) Boston College (JD)
Signature

Marilyn Mosby (née James; born January 22, 1980) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the State's Attorney of Baltimore from 2015 to 2023. She was the youngest state prosecutor for any major city in the United States.

Mosby was re-elected in 2018 but lost her 2022 reelection campaign to Ivan Bates, following her indictment by federal grand juries for perjury and fraud. The two perjury charges were due to Mosby having financially exploited a COVID-19 pandemic relief program for which she was convicted on November 9, 2023. The fraud case, for which she was convicted on February 6, 2024, was due to mortgage fraud committed when purchasing two Longboat Key, Florida properties.

Early life

Born Marilyn James in Massachusetts, she was raised in Dorchester, Boston, by her grandparents. Her mother, Linda Thompson, was 17 when Mosby was born. Her mother and father both served as police officers; her family traces its association with the police for two generations, as her grandfather was one of the first African-American police officers in the state. She attended Dover-Sherborn High School, an hour away from her home, as a result of METCO, the longest-standing school desegregation program in the country. She served in the Student Government Association, and was co-editor of the school newspaper.

In 2000, when she was a 20-year-old Tuskegee University student, James appeared on the Judge Judy television show as a plaintiff, suing a roommate for damaging her property during summer break. She prevailed in the arbitration, and was awarded $1,700. She graduated magna cum laude from Tuskegee University with a (B.A.) degree; she earned a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 2005.

Career

Mosby served as a law clerk, an Assistant State's Attorney for Baltimore, and Liberty Mutual fraud investigator from 2005 to 2014. Before that she had held a series of legal internships in Boston while in law school.

State's Attorney for City of Baltimore

2014 Baltimore State's Attorney Democratic primary results by precinct

     Mosby

     50–60%
     60–70%
     70–80%
     80–90%
     >90%

     Bernstein

     50–60%
     60–70%
     70–80%
     80–90%

     Tie

Mosby announced her plans to run for State's Attorney for the City of Baltimore in June 2013. She ran against incumbent Gregg L. Bernstein in the Democratic primary, defeating him with 55 percent of the vote. She faced no Republican opposition in the general election. Mosby won the general election, receiving 94 percent of the vote, defeating Independent Russell A. Neverdon Sr., who ran a write-in campaign.

At the time of her election, Mosby was the youngest top prosecutor in a major US city. She was sworn into office on January 8, 2015. Soon after her first term in office had begun, Mosby announced restructuring of her office that was inspired by ideas from prosecutors' offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Deputy State's Attorney Janice Bledsoe was named to oversee the new division of "criminal intelligence". Mosby reestablished community liaison positions, which her predecessor had eliminated, to inform residents of developments in cases relevant to their neighborhood. She created the Policy and Legislative Affairs Unit to advocate for legislation to prosecute cases more efficiently.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she announced that her office would not pursue charges related to minor traffic violations, and low-level offenses in order to halt the spread of the coronavirus in Baltimore prisons. In March 2021, she made the policy permanent, as she said that the temporary experiment had not led to more serious crimes.

2022 Baltimore State's Attorney Democratic primary results by precinct

     Bates

     30–40%
     40–50%
     50–60%
     60–70%
     70–80%

     Vignarajah

     30–40%
     40–50%
     50–60%
     60–70%

     Mosby

     30–40%
     40–50%
     50–60%
     60–70%

     Tie

     30–40%
     40–50%

Mosby announced on April 12, 2022, that she would run for re-election to a third term. She was defeated by defense attorney Ivan Bates in the Democratic primary on July 19, 2022.

Community outreach

Mosby started initiatives to engage the Baltimore community, including:

• Junior State's Attorney – Launched in the summer of 2015, the program introduces up to 30 promising middle school students each summer to careers in the criminal justice field.
• Community Day in Court – In an effort to rebuild trust and faith in the criminal justice system, Mosby began holding quarterly Community Days in Court, bringing the public and law enforcement together to discuss issues troubling the city.

IRS tax lien and Inspector General findings

In October 2020, a $45,000 federal tax lien was filed against the property of Marilyn Mosby and her husband Nick for three years of unpaid federal taxes (2014, 2015, and 2016). Nick Mosby said he has been "in ongoing conversations with the IRS" about resolving this issue. That November, he said the issue was "settled".

In addition to criticism of her case against the officers charged in Gray's death, Mosby faced questions about her frequent speaking engagements and private businesses. Though she maintained she did nothing wrong, Mosby asked city Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming to investigate. Cumming found Mosby was out of town for 144 workdays in 2018 and 2019, did not report 15 out-of-town trips to the Board of Estimates, and had used LLCs (that she had falsely claimed were dormant) for tax write-offs. City Solicitor Jim Shea issued his own assessment of Mosby's travel activity, finding that the city's administrative rules on travel reporting by elected officials were unclear, therefore Mosby was not at fault for not reporting her out-of-town travel.

Two days later, it was determined that the lawyers who responded to the Baltimore Inspector General's report (in defense of Mosby) were paid using Mosby's re-election campaign funds, a violation of state law. Shortly afterwards, land records revealed Mosby bought two homes in Florida, including a $476,000 condominium.

Attack on free speech and journalists

In May 2021, Mosby's office filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Baltimore television station WBFF, which had been critical of Mosby, alleging the station's coverage of her office was "blatantly slanted, dishonest, misleading, racist, and extremely dangerous". The complaint also stated that "We welcome being held accountable, and we support First Amendment freedom of speech." WBFF responded that its journalism was in the public interest, and "While we understand that it's not always popular with the individuals and institutions upon which we are shining a light, we stand by our reporting."

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr characterized Mosby's complaint as, "a chilling and direct attack on free speech and journalistic freedom".

Federal COVID-19 relief perjury and mortgage fraud

On January 13, 2022, Mosby was indicted by a federal grand jury on perjury charges alleging she falsely claimed COVID-19-related financial hardship in requesting one-time withdrawals of $40,000 and $50,000 of her deferred compensation funds under the CARES Act, which describes specific criteria for qualifying withdrawals, such as a reduction of income due to a COVID-related layoff or due to quarantining, whereas she reportedly had continued to draw her full salary throughout the period, and her salary had actually increased. She additionally was accused of making false statements in mortgage applications for her Florida home and condo by failing to disclose her federal tax liabilities. There were four counts in the indictment.

On February 4, 2022, Mosby pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her trial was scheduled to begin in March 2023, but in January, her defense team of six attorneys, who had taken the case pro bono, were permitted to withdraw after being accused of violating court rules, which resulted in further delays. The lawyers' withdrawals stemmed from the possible criminal contempt charges facing lead defense attorney A. Scott Bolden for his conduct, including cursing on the courthouse steps and releasing secret jury information.

Despite having been employed as Baltimore's top prosecutor for the prior eight years, Mosby was declared indigent (too impoverished to pay for her own defense) in January 2023 and a public defender, attorney Maggie Grace, was assigned to represent her.

In May 2024, ahead of her sentencing, Mosby appeared for an interview on MSNBC's The ReidOut, where she declared her innocence and called on President Joe Biden to pardon her, asserting that she had been "politically targeted" and that the proceedings had broken her psychologically, professionally, spiritually, and financially.

On May 23, 2024, Mosby was "spared prison for mortgage fraud and perjury" and instead, sentenced to 12 months of home confinement, 100 hours of community service, and three years of supervised release in connection with her perjury and mortgage fraud convictions.

Disbarment

The Maryland Bar Counsel is seeking to suspend Mosby's law license and confiscate her Longboat Key, Florida properties which were the subject of her criminal fraud conviction (but not her federal perjury convictions).

Personal life

In 2005 James married Nick Mosby, the current president of the Baltimore City Council. They have two daughters. On July 21, 2023, the Mosbys filed for divorce.