Marilyn Mosby's federal trial moved out of Baltimore, split into two cases
BALTIMORE -- Defense attorneys for former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby scored major victories Friday in the federal criminal case against her.
Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, citing concerns about jury bias, granted the defense motion to move Mosby's trial out of Baltimore and another motion to separate her case into two trials: One for perjury, the other for mortgage fraud.
The perjury trial is set to go first, as the defense requested, on November 2.
Both trials will be held in Greenbelt and decided by a jury in Maryland's Washington, D.C. suburbs.
Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky argued against the move. "Trying the case where the public crimes occurred—where the community has an interest—is important," he told Judge Griggsby.
Prosecutors fear it "sends a message" to Baltimore that a jury here is unable to render justice.
Mosby was not present for the hearing.
She is represented by a new legal team of public defenders who argue past media coverage tainted the local jury pool.
They hired a consultant, Trial Innovations, to conduct a telephone survey. It found 45 percent of potential jurors in Baltimore and surrounding areas view Mosby as "corrupt."
But prosecutors said the survey was flawed and not a representative sample.
They argued Mosby and her prior lawyers were behind much of the publicity they claim tainted the jury pool including multiple interviews and press conferences.
Mosby faces perjury charges that she lied to get a COVID hardship withdrawal from her retirement account to buy vacation homes and provided false information on mortgage applications for those two Florida vacation properties to get lower interest rates.
Judge Griggsby said Mosby may want to testify in one set of charges and not the other and having two trials will protect her constitutional right against self-incrimination. That is why she separated the case into two trials.
The prosecution vehemently opposed splitting the case, saying "...to slice it up in this fashion, it's just not what's done in this courthouse."
Mosby's defense said her husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, may testify in the mortgage fraud case. The two recently announced they are getting a divorce.
Mosby's public defender James Wyda told the judge, "Ms. Mosby is not looking for anything special here. She comes into this courthouse like everyone else wanting a fair trial."
Mosby has maintained her innocence.
Last year, she lost her bid for re-election and was replaced by Ivan Bates as Baltimore City's top prosecutor.
