Marilyn Mosby asks judge to turn home detention into nightly curfew, to allow for new job's travel

Darcy Costello, Baltimore Sun on Oct 14, 2024

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BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is asking a federal judge to replace her home detention with a nightly curfew, a move her attorneys say is necessary for a new job that requires “routine travel” within Maryland.

In a Friday motion, the federal public defenders representing Mosby sought a curfew allowing her to travel in the state, without prior approval, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., including weekends. The attorneys wrote that not being able to “freely travel” would hinder her ability to do her job effectively.

The former state’s attorney, who was later convicted of perjury and mortgage fraud, secured a position starting Oct. 1 as director of global strategic planning with a California-based company that acquires and runs mental health, substance abuse and transitional housing facilities, according to court filings.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Probation Office for the District of Maryland oppose Mosby’s request, her attorneys said in court records. A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Erek Barron declined to comment Monday. Probation officials could not be reached.

In the Friday motion, Federal Public Defender James Wyda and his co-counsel Paresh S. Patel, an assistant federal public defender, responded to a series of concerns from the federal entities. They ranged from community service hours Mosby has yet to complete to how she communicates with probation officials to an argument that her probation conditions should stay the same until she maintains employment for a sustained period.

Wyda and Patel, however, argue the curfew is essential for her to work the “at least 30 hours” required under her supervised release, as well as to pay her bills and support her family after the “financial devastation she has faced since her prosecution.”

“Failing to reduce her hours of home detention will jeopardize her employment, her livelihood and her family’s well-being,” the attorneys wrote.

Mosby, Baltimore’s former elected prosecutor, was found guilty of perjury and mortgage fraud by two federal juries in separate trials held in Greenbelt in November and January, respectively. She was spared prison time and sentenced by U.S District Judge Lydia K. Griggsby to a year of home confinement and three years of supervised release. Mosby also is required, under Griggsby’s sentence, to forfeit her Florida condo and complete 100 hours of community service while on probation.

Mosby has filed an appeal of her convictions, which she argues were the result of an “ill-advised and ill-conceived” prosecution. She hopes a federal appeals court will find the convictions legally unsound, due to what she says were flaws in the two trials, and hopes to keep her vacation condo on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

There have been a flurry of legal filings since she began her home detention on June 20, including motions seeking permission for her to travel. Her supervised release says she is to be on home detention in her residence for one year, “except for employment, education, religious services, medical services, substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, attorney visits, court appearances, court-ordered obligations, childcare or other activities approved by the probation officer.”

In August, the judge approved a travel request for Mosby to go to Livermore, California, in late September through early October for an in-person visit with a potential employer, from which she had received a tentative job offer. But a related request for permission to attend staff dinners for employment purposes during that travel was denied.

That employer, which is not identified by name in legal filings, nonetheless extended a final offer. Her job description includes travel for evaluating current and prospective facilities, establishing and maintaining relationships with partners, and enhancing collaboration with community, government and service providers, according to her attorneys’ motion.

Mosby’s attorneys, in response to the probation office’s concerns, said Mosby could complete her community service hours in the remaining seven months on home supervision, that whether Mosby communicates directly with her probation officer or through an attorney is “irrelevant,” and that travel is essential for her to maintain employment and perform her job.

Advanced notice of travel would be “unworkable” with her new job, particularly as she meets with partners and stakeholders, Wyda and Patel said.

Under the terms of her probation, Mosby is required to provide a schedule for movements outside of her home one week in advance, including timing, the nature of the activity, its purpose and the full address.

“Although the court’s judgment, as noted, already permits Ms. Mosby to leave for employment, it would become a logistical nightmare for both Probation and Ms. Mosby if she is required to seek and obtain approval every time she needs to engage in travel for work or incidental travel related to work,” the motion said.

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