Former Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby wants President Joe Biden to intervene ahead of her federal sentencing on perjury and mortgage fraud charges.
Mosby said in an interview Wednesday night on Joy Reid's MSNBC weeknight show “The Readout” that he did “nothing wrong, illegal or criminal at all.” He said he believed it was appropriate for Mr. Biden to pardon him.
“I am confident that this administration will overcome the political attacks,” Mosby said, attributing the legal problems to attacks by his conservative opponents.
Mosby's sentencing on mortgage fraud and perjury charges is scheduled for May 23. She could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, but her maximum sentence is rare. A federal jury found that she lied to get money out of a city retirement account and that she submitted a false letter of gift when she bought a Florida vacation home with the money.
Ms Reed expressed disbelief that Ms Mosby had been found guilty of withdrawing “her own money” from her retirement savings. The TV host has criticized the officers involved in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, the injuries he sustained while in police custody, and his public confrontations with Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. It drew a direct line between Mr. Mosby's decision to prosecute for cause and Mr. Mosby's indictment in January 2022.
The indictment against Mosby was brought under Democratic U.S. Attorney Erek Barron and assigned to Biden candidate U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Grigsby.
Ms. Mosby told Ms. Reed that she now seeks support from those who fought as state's attorney.
“If Marilyn Mosby, who had the audacity to challenge the status quo, could do the same, anyone can do the same,” Mosby said.
It is unusual for Ms. Mosby to apply for a presidential pardon before sentencing, especially because she did not file the application with the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Typically, the Office of Pardons reviews pardon applications and makes recommendations to the president.
But experts say a presidential pardon is a powerful tool that can be used at any time after a crime has occurred, not just after a conviction.
“The second method, which has been particularly popular under the Trump administration, would be to find a way to get the president's attention,” said Jeffrey Crouch, a political science professor at American University and an expert on executive pardons.
“Trump sometimes granted clemency to individuals he learned about through the media or word of mouth,” Crouch said.
That hasn't been the case under the Biden administration, but Biden has primarily used pardons for people convicted of drug crimes. Pardons are generally very rare: Biden received nearly 1,000 clemency petitions during his term, but only 24 were granted.
“Very few clemency petitions are granted,” said Eric Bakaj, a former federal prosecutor and now an attorney at the Baltimore law firm Silverman, Thompson, Slatkin & White. “For criminal defendants, that's very difficult.”
In recent weeks, Mosby began promoting an online petition asking Biden to pardon him. As of Wednesday night, it had more than 9,000 signatures. After Mosby's TV appearance, the number of signatures jumped by about 400.
Crouch said it was unclear how Biden would respond to Mosby's request for clemency.
“Those with money, connections and status may have a better chance, but it's unclear by how much,” he says. “President Biden is President Donald Trump; [his son] It's Hunter Biden. ”
Mr. Mosby's lawyer, federal civil servant James Wajda, declined to comment on the clemency application.
A federal jury convicted Mosby of perjury in November and mortgage fraud in February in two criminal trials. Prosecutors charged that Mosby lied when he claimed to have suffered pandemic-related financial hardship in order to withdraw funds from his city retirement account.
The two withdrawals, totaling approximately $80,000, were the basis for convicting Mosby on two counts of perjury. She used the money to make down payments on two vacation properties in Florida: an eight-bedroom home near Disney World and a beachside condo on the Gulf Coast. The total value is close to $1 million.
The government alleged that Mosby made a series of false statements when he applied for mortgages on the two properties, but jurors found that Mosby had made a series of false statements related to the letters of gift he submitted when purchasing the condominiums. He was found guilty on only one charge.
The letter said Mosby's then-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, sent her a $5,000 gift to allow her access to the property. In fact, Marilyn Mosby was transferring the money herself to her husband's bank account. He moved it between checking and savings accounts and then wired it to an escrow agent for closing.
The couple subsequently divorced. Marilyn Mosby said in an interview with The Reid that she “lost everything” because of the investigation that led to her indictment. Mr. Mosby requested one such investigation, by the Baltimore Office of the Inspector General, because Mr. Mosby had come under intense scrutiny for starting a travel business while in office.
