A group of 15 civil rights organizations joined together to call for President Biden to pardon former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who they say was targeted during the Trump administration.
In a letter to Mr. Biden, the groups said she was “wrongfully convicted… after enduring the political persecution and malicious prosecution of the Trump administration’s Department of Justice.”
In November, a jury convicted her of two counts of perjury after the government said she lied about facing financial hardship during the pandemic to get money from her city Deferred Compensation retirement account that she then used to buy two vacation homes in Florida.
She was found guilty in February of one count of mortgage fraud for making false statements on a mortgage application for the two homes. Prosecutors said she never mentioned a tax lien and a signed contract she had to rent out one of the homes, to get lower interest rates. Renting out the home was prohibited by the mortgage company as well.
Ms. Mosby is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23. She faces up to 40 years behind bars. She insists that she did nothing wrong because no public money was used.
“We are deeply concerned that the last administration abused their power to advance a meritless indictment against Ms. Mosby and worse, the current administration’s U.S. Department of Justice ignored a clear political motive of the malicious prosecution against Ms. Mosby,” the letter says.
The groups said Ms. Mosby’s “focus on accountability and racial equity raised the ire of highly placed officials including the U.S. Attorney General and other law enforcement officials.”
They cited former Attorney General William Barr criticizing her and other reform prosecutors in a speech before law enforcement. Ms. Mosby was vocal about prosecuting any federal agents who engaged in unlawful actions against Baltimore citizens who were participating in protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
A few months later, she learned she was under federal investigation, which the letter calls “a move widely perceived as retaliation for her courageous stance in protecting her constituents’ constitutional rights.”
The group argued that out of 739 people who withdrew funds from their retirement accounts, Ms. Mosby was the only one questioned. She was then denied due process, the opportunity to testify and present exculpatory evidence.
“We expect that political persecutions and malicious prosecutions pursued during the Trump Administration would not continue in the Biden Administration,” the letter says. “Ms. Mosby’s case is not the only one–it is the latest and one of the most egregious cases. This matter should be corrected because it is a miscarriage of justice and an example of the last administration’s misuse of authority.”
The letter was signed by the NAACP, Black to the Future Action Fund, Black Voters Matter, Black Women’s Roundtable, Color of Change, Fair and Just Prosecution, National Action Network, National Bar Association, National Black Justice Coalition, National Black Law Students Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League, Until Freedom and World Without Genocide.
They called for a pardon of Ms. Mosby, and a thorough review of prosecutions of other Black elected officials and persons of color.
Ms. Mosby, who is Black, has said a pardon would be “appropriate.”
“I know I’ve done 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, it just makes absolutely no sense, it is illogical,” she said recently on MSNBC.
Ms. Mosby said she was “targeted” because of the progressive actions she took while in office.