By Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor
dbailey@afro.com
At the end of the longest day of the Marilyn Mosby vs. the United States at the District Court House in Greenbelt, Md., the former Baltimore State’s Attorney’s fate now rests in the hands of the jury.
Closing arguments on Feb. 5 extended well into the afternoon with U.S. government prosecutors and Mosby’s public defense attorney painting a striking contrast about Mosby and her motives in the purchase of the two Florida properties she purchased that are at the center of this case.
“This is a case about lies and responsibility,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky who gave closing arguments for the prosecution.
Zelinsky portrayed Mosby as a skilled professional who knowingly orchestrated a series of alleged lies to secure a home purchased in Kissimmee, Florida and condominium at Longwood Key the following year.
“This isn’t any regular person we’re talking about filling out those forms,” Zelinsky repeated throughout his closing argument. “This is an educated lawyer who runs a prosecutor’s office,” he said.
After repeating Moby’s education and status as “Baltimore’s top prosecutor” numerous times, he turned to a direct assault on both Marilyn Mosby’s character and that of her ex-husband, Nick Mosby, who testified for the defense last week.
“Marilyn Mosby is a convicted federal perjurer,” Zelinksy said. “She is not credible because she is convicted of perjury and her story makes no sense,” Zelinsky jabbed. “Mr. Mosby is not exactly credible himself.”
Maggie Grace, a member of Mosby’s public defense team, approached her description of Mosby and the events surrounding the purchase of the Florida properties with a different lens.
Grace cautioned jurors that it was their responsibility to consider, “the full picture, the full context” and the “evidence of good faith” that Grace said Mosby displayed throughout the process. She added that even though mistakes were made– Mosby was not intentionally misleading officials.
“Even a lawyer, even a state’s attorney, unless you are steeped in real estate would never know how to complete these forms,” Grace said as she held up a notebook-sized folder full of mortgage documents for jurors to see.
Grace drilled down on the issue of the Mosby’s $45,000 tax debt, displaying evidence that Nick Mosby had entered an installment agreement for the tax bill and adding that, “She (Marilyn) did not knowingly hide the tax debt. Ms. Mosby believed they were on an installment plan,” she said.
“We trust that you’ll find Ms. Mosby acted in good faith and didn’t knowingly make false statements,” Grace affirmed.
As she headed out of the courtroom, Mosby was surrounded by more than one hundred supporters and friends, arriving from Baltimore in cars and a bus chartered by New Shiloh Baptist Church. Her supporters and her two daughters, Aniyah and Nylyn walked Mosby in and out of the courthouse.
Michael Eugene, lifelong activist, said “I’m here to support the process as well as Marilyn Mosby. This is nothing more than a high tech lynching.”
“We want to let the federal government know we’re watching. At this point I am confident that she will be acquitted,” Eugene said.
“I came to support Ms. Mosby because in the face of the government’s attempt to smear her name has happened to too many women in positions of power,” said Baltimorean Ertha Harris, host of the Tight Knit Connection radio program on WOLB.
Others, like Sheena Smith, from Baltimore, have traveled to the Greenbelt courthouse for the past two weeks to stand guard throughout the trial.
“I saw they were trying to assassinate her in the media,” said Sheena Smith, who has traveled to the courthouse daily with several friends.
“This city would have burned down if she didn’t make the decisions she made after Freddie Gray was murdered,” Smith said. “The city would have burned. No other elected official stood up,” she said.
“Our former state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby, is innocent,” Smith said. “She’s not lying. Marilyn had no knowledge of the tax debt.”