Trial for Baltimore State’s Attorney Mosby set for May

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The jury trial in Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s federal criminal case has been scheduled for May 2.

U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby set the date Wednesday during a scheduling conference that was not open to the public. Griggsby also set deadlines for pretrial motions and other standard hearings that must take place before a trial can start.

The trial date was set after Mosby’s attorney, A. Scott Bolden, repeatedly said he would push for a trial as quickly as possible because of the upcoming Democratic primary for Mosby’s post as Baltimore’s top prosecutor.

Mosby and Bolden have claimed that the prosecution is politically motivated and was timed to hurt Mosby in the leadup to her re-election campaign.

A federal grand jury indicted Mosby on Jan. 13 on two counts each of perjury and making false statements on loan applications. The indictment alleges that Mosby falsely claimed financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to withdraw money from her retirement account without incurring the usual penalty. She is also accused of failing to disclose a $45,000 IRS lien when she applied for mortgages on two properties in Florida.

Mosby pleaded not guilty at her initial appearance earlier this month. In pretrial motions, Bolden said Mosby did not know about the lien when she applied for the Florida mortgages. The motions blame Mosby’s husband, City Council President Nick Mosby, for failing to inform her of a series of tax problems and then telling her, incorrectly, that the lien had been paid off.

Bolden asked Griggsby to throw out the indictment and to disqualify the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise, in part because he made campaign donations to Mosby’s two opponents in the 2018 Democratic primary.

Mosby went on to win that election and has been a controversial figure throughout her time in office. She has clashed repeatedly with Gov. Larry Hogan over her office’s policies and recently halted prosecutions of certain nonviolent crimes, including drug paraphernalia and prostitution offenses.

The government now has until March 11 to respond to the pretrial motions Mosby’s attorneys filed in her criminal case. Other motions related to the handling of her trial must be filed by April 4 and a hearing on the pretrial motions will be held on April 14, according to the scheduling order filed Wednesday afternoon.

Mosby’s trial will likely last at least a week. Prosecutors said in a previous court filing that they expect the trial to take four days and will call about 15 witnesses. The defense said Mosby may call five to 10 witnesses.

Griggsby wrote in Wednesday’s order that she will not modify the pretrial schedule “absent good cause.”