Former Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby’s Legal Team Argues Against Prison Sentence as Court Date Approaches

Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s legal team, under the direction of public defender James Wyda, vehemently opposed the imposition of a prison sentence and argued for a lesser punishment than the potential 40 years that are still on the table. “‘Just’ punishment does not mandate, or always include a prison sentence.,” Wyda demanded.

Arguing against jail time for his client, Wyda invoked a central theme that Mosby and her supporters have repeatedly emphasized since her indictment in January 2022 – the assertion that she was criminally investigated and prosecuted because she is a Black woman and a trailblazing prosecutor. “Ms. Mosby was accessing retirement funds that, though held in trust, were derived from her own income, as was the money used to fund the $5,000 gift letter,” Wyda insisted. “She did not defraud taxpayers, government agencies, or others to access someone else’s money.”

Prosecutors, however, are pushing for a starkly different outcome, urging U.S. Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, who is Black and a nominee of President Joe Biden, to impose at least a 20-month prison sentence for Mosby’s felony convictions. In their memo, prosecutors Sean Delaney and Aron Zelinsky portrayed Mosby as a lawbreaker who continues to show no remorse and as a liar who deceitfully acted in her own self-interest during the COVID pandemic.