Marilyn Mosby (née James; born January 22, 1980)[1] is an American politician and lawyer who served as the State's Attorney of Baltimore from 2015 to 2023.

[4] 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.

[15] Mosby won the general election, receiving 94 percent of the vote, defeating Independent Russell A. Neverdon Sr., who ran a write-in campaign.

[21] Mosby pushed unsuccessfully for bills that would have allowed prosecutors to introduce prior accusations against serial sex offenders during trial, an issue which she raised during her campaign.

[23] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she announced that her office would not pursue charges related to drug possession, prostitution, minor traffic violations, and low-level offenses in order to halt the spread of the coronavirus in Baltimore prisons.

Since her administration began in January 2015, she oversaw successful prosecutions of a number of locally highlighted offenders, such as Darryl Anderson,[26] Capone Chase,[27] Nelson Clifford,[22] Mustafa Eraibi,[28] and Cornell Harvey.

[32][33] David Jaros, an associate professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said that Mosby possibly overcharged the officers, while noting this is more typical in criminal cases involving defendants who are not police.

And many critics say letting police departments investigate themselves is partly why alleged excessive use of force incidents by officers rarely draw serious punishment.

[35] In a May 4, 2015 interview on Fox News, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said that he believed Mosby overcharged the officers in an attempt to satisfy protesters and prevent further disturbances.

[37] A few days later, Mosby appeared onstage at concert with the musician Prince, after which she was criticized for using the Freddie Gray incident for personal and political gain.

[59] 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.

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.

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

[65] 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.

[6] 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.

[67] 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,[68] were permitted to withdraw after being accused of violating court rules, which resulted in further delays.

[69][70] 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.

[68] 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[68] and a public defender, attorney Maggie Grace, was assigned to represent her.

[74] In February 2024, Mosby's defense counsel filed a motion to acquit, contending that the mortgage fraud did not happen in Maryland and claimed the government brought the case in the wrong venue.

[77] On February 16, 2024, the judge overseeing the case upheld Marilyn Mosby's mortgage fraud conviction – rejecting her defense motion to acquit due to venue.

[78] 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.