BALTIMORE (AP) — Ahead of the sentencing hearing for former Baltimore City Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the NAACP and more than a dozen other organizations sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday, urging him to grant her clemency.
Juries in two trials ultimately found Mosby, 44, guilty of lying about a vacation home loan and withdrawals from his retirement account for COVID-related hardship.
She is expected to be sentenced on May 23 and faces up to years in federal prison.
WJZ researcher Mike Hellgren reports that the NAACP is one of 15 civil rights organizations that do not readily grant pardon to President Mosby.
In the five-page letter, the human rights organization explains how it believes Mosby was unfairly targeted and wrongfully convicted of perjury and credit fraud.
Teams say she struck through the federal government in revenge for its progressive policies and prosecution of officials after Freddie Gray’s death just a decade ago.
While many defendants apologize and repent before their federal sentencing date, Mosby is anything but.
“He accused me of doing something I didn’t do. I’m innocent. I’m facing 40 years of criminal conviction for taking flight budget out of my retirement savings. The U. S. government, a global superpower, is after me,” Mosby said. On Wednesday morning, on the national show “The Breakfast Club,” she had personally asked for a presidential pardon.
“All of this is connected to the past administration. The one who now has the strength to do something about it is this administration,” Mosby said.
“The words spoken in the Supreme Court speak of equivalent justice under the law, and what we have in the prosecution of Marilyn Mosby is selective prosecution,” said Patrice Willoughby, senior vice president of global policy and counsel for the NAACP. .
Hellgren asked Willoughby if he expected a quick reaction from Biden.
“We expect a real reaction because a delay in justice is a denial of justice,” he said.
The letter accuses the Justice Department, under President Donald Trump, of carrying out a “baseless indictment” against Mosby and suggests that the current leadership has ignored the political motivations of what it calls a “malicious prosecution. “
“We expect that the political persecution and malicious prosecutions carried out under the Trump administration will continue under the Biden administration,” the letter begins, highlighting Mosby’s progressive technique in prosecutions.
Mosby was found guilty of enduring financial hardship such as COVID-19 by withdrawing money without penalty from her retirement account and falsifying information about two-home loan programs in Florida.
The former prosecutor’s defense argued that the trial was “politically motivated. “
“The only thing Marilyn Mosby is to blame for is a preference for providing her circle of family members with a better life,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said when the letter was released. “The sad truth is that while Black women are in positions of power, dark forces seek to destroy their progress and that of our community. “
When asked about the letter at a recent press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she may have simply made comments about the president’s mind because she had talked to him about them.
“I have to be very careful because obviously this is a Department of Justice proceeding and I don’t need to report on an individual clemency application; That’s not something I can do,” he said. “[The Department of Justice] uses a thorough and deliberative procedure when it comes to reviewing executive pardon petitions. “
The letter is the latest development in a broader public crusade for Mosby’s pardon. So far, one petition has been created and has garnered more than 16,000 signatures to date.
During an appearance on MSNBC last week, Mosby said he did nothing and asked for a presidential pardon.
I know I probably haven’t done anything wrong, or anything criminal, or anything to be separated from my children for 40 years after taking $90,000 out of my own money. It probably doesn’t make sense. “