Marilyn Mosby

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

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.

She prevailed in the arbitration, and was awarded $1,700.

She graduated magna cum laude from Tuskegee University with a (B.A.) degree; she earned a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 2005.

Mosby served as a law clerk and as Assistant State's Attorney for Baltimore from 2005 to 2011.

Before that she had held a series of legal internships in Boston while in law school.

In 2013, Mosby announced plans to run for State's Attorney for the city of Baltimore.

She ran against incumbent Gregg L. Bernstein in the Democratic primary, defeating him with 55 percent of the vote.

She faced no Republican opposition in the general election.

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

At the time of her election, Mosby was the youngest top prosecutor in a major US city.

She had gained national attention following the Killing of Freddie Gray in 2015, after which she led a very public investigation and later failed murder prosecution of the police officers who arrested Gray.

In January 2022, Mosby was indicted, by federal grand jury for perjury and making false mortgage claims.

In September 2023 she was convicted of perjury.

In February 2024, she was convicted of mortgage fraud.

In January 2022, Mosby was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and making false statements on loan applications.

The charges stemmed from allegations that she had withdrawn money from a program designed to help people financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

She denied any wrongdoing, and subsequently lost reelection to Ivan Bates.

Mosby was convicted on two counts of perjury on November 9, 2023, and on one count of mortgage fraud on February 6, 2024.

Born Marilyn James in Massachusetts, Mosby was raised by her grandparents in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts.

Mosby's mother, Linda Thompson, was 17 when Mosby was born.

Her mother and father both became police officers; her family traces its association with the police for two generations, as her grandfather was one of the first African-American police officers in the state.

She attended Dover-Sherborn High School, an hour away from her home, as a result of METCO, the longest-standing school desegregation program in the country.

She served in the Student Government Association, and was co-editor of the school newspaper.

Her interest in practicing law was sparked by the murder of her 17-year-old cousin by another 17-year-old outside of her home.

Her cousin was mistakenly identified as a drug dealer and consequently murdered.

Mosby was sworn into office on January 8, 2015.

Soon after her first term in office had begun, Mosby announced restructuring of her office that was inspired by ideas from prosecutors' offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

Deputy State's Attorney Janice Bledsoe was named to oversee the new division of "criminal intelligence".

Mosby reestablished community liaison positions, which her predecessor had eliminated, to inform residents of developments in cases relevant to their neighborhood.

She created the Policy and Legislative Affairs Unit to advocate for legislation to help keep residents safe and prosecute cases efficiently.

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.

In May 2015, she secured the conviction of Nelson Clifford, a sex-offender who was acquitted in four previous sexual assault cases involving a "consent" defense.

After the verdict she stated, "While we were able to secure a guilty verdict in this case, we must still encourage our legislators in Annapolis to bring our predatory sexual assault laws in line with the federal statute. Clifford was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison."

In January 2019, she announced that her office would no longer prosecute individuals for marijuana possession, regardless of quantity.

She added that she would vacate nearly 5,000 marijuana possession convictions.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she announced that her office would no longer pursue charges related to drug possession, prostitution, minor traffic violations and other low-level offenses in order to halt the spread of the coronavirus in Baltimore prisons.

In March 2021, she said she would make that permanent, as she said that the temporary experiment had not led to more serious crimes.

Mosby announced on April 12, 2022, that she would run for re-election to a third term.

She was defeated by defense attorney Ivan Bates in the Democratic primary on July 19.