Attorney A. Scott Bolden issued a statement calling the charges “bogus” and his client innocent. Mosby never lied in relation to the allegations, the statement said, and the US Attorney’s Office for Maryland refused requests to meet with Bolden’s team and to inform Bolden if “evidence of Ms. Mosby’s innocence that we provided … was ever presented to the grand jury.”
The statement further accused the federal prosecutor of conspiring with the Justice Department’s tax division to “wrongfully indict” his client, and alleged federal law enforcement offices were interested only in “bringing false charges against my client — at all or any costs.” The charges “are rooted in personal, political and racial animus five months from her election,” Bolden wrote.
In a Friday afternoon news conference, Mosby declined to take questions, saying Bolden would address the media later, but she insisted she’s being targeted politically and vowed to fight as she’s done throughout her tenure.
Freddie Gray threw her into the spotlight
Even attorney Laura Coates, now a CNN legal analyst, who had initially applauded Mosby, tweeted “Tsk tsk” following the Prince appearance and noted Mosby was facing allegations of conflicts of interest and charging officers as a publicity stunt.
Police reform remained a top priority
Despite her “agonizing” decision to drop charges in the Gray killing, Mosby continued working to stamp out “entrenched police corruption” in the city of 586,000, she said. In an interview last year, she boasted that, despite the officers’ acquittals and vacated charges, “every single police officer is now being held accountable for the actions of a few.”
That included a “robust” use-of-force policy, emphasis on de-escalation and sanctity of life and revised policies on traffic stops, searches and arrests, along with other approaches aimed at improving community policing, he said. Officers were using less force and facing fewer complaints, and many agencies regarded BPD as a model, Harrison said, adding the city was “turning the corner” but had a long way to go.
Authorities would find themselves more frequently in prosecutors’ crosshairs over the ensuing years:
‘I have had a target on my back’
In her Friday news conference, Mosby drew links between the federal charges and her work to “bridge the divide between the criminal justice system and the communities that we are trusted to serve.”
At times speaking over the din of city traffic, she told reporters that she has sought only to make communities safer while improving the justice system. She expected the job would be hard, she said, but she did not expect the personal attacks, nor did she expect to be mocked and ridiculed, she said.
“I also need citizens, who I am blessed to serve, to know that I am innocent of the charges that have been (leveled) against me, and I intend to fight with every ounce of energy within my being to prove my innocence,” she said.
She cited sacrifices she made, including missing her two daughters’ games and recitals, fending off investigations and having to “incessantly fight” to keep her law license. She’s spent a half-million dollars defending herself against “frivolous attacks,” she said.
Mosby’s also received hate mail and death threats, she said, and the media has compromised her daughters’ safety. She now requires 24-hour security, she said.
Meanwhile, she has been forced to battle powerful institutions, the prosecutor said, pointing to a laundry list of enemies that includes the US attorney’s office, the Fraternal Order of Police, right-wing media, Gov. Larry Hogan and former President Donald Trump.
Since the Gray case, “I have had a target on my back, and I get it,” she said.
Touting her record, she says she’s fought for a uniform standard of justice for all Baltimore residents, prosecuted police for violating rights, sought to “end the war on drug users and people of color,” decriminalized drug possession and sex work, demanded second chances for incarcerated lifers and helped exonerate Black men who the “justice system wanted to rot in prison.”
“I get it,” she said. “This is not what prosecutors usually do and many people will forever hate me for it.”
While debating ideology is democracy at work, she said, the charges against her are the product of “unreasonable and unyielding, abusive attacks, investigation and prosecution.”
She did not defraud anyone and did not lie on a mortgage application, she said, reiterating her attorney’s assertion that she offered to provide exculpatory information to federal prosecutors.
“Please don’t be fooled. We are now five months from our next election and this indictment is merely a political ploy by my political adversaries to unseat me,” Mosby told reporters. “Please also understand that I will never let that happen without a fight.”
CNN’s Laura Dolan, Ray Sanchez, Laura Studley, Mallika Kallingal, Emma Tucker and Jean Casarez contributed to this report.
