Jurors to deliberate Tuesday in former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s mortgage fraud trial

Jurors will return to court Tuesday to determine whether former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby committed mortgage fraud to buy two vacation homes in Florida.

After hearing closing statements Monday from prosecutors and defense attorneys in the trial, jurors were left with two competing visions of what the case was about.

“Lies and responsibility,” said the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky.

“Love and betrayal,” said one of Mosby’s lawyers, Maggie Grace.

Jurors were dismissed for the day around 5 p.m. Monday.

In the trial, now entering its fourth week, jurors heard from Mosby herself, as well as her ex-husband, Nick Mosby, the Baltimore City Council president.

Prosecutors say Marilyn Mosby lied on mortgage applications, including neglecting to note she had a large outstanding federal tax debt, in order to be approved for loans to buy the homes.

But the estranged couple, who divorced in November, testified that Nick Mosby kept the debt secret from his then-wife and, when she learned of it, lied that he was taking care of it. With penalties and interest, the couple’s tax debt had grown to $69,000.

To a packed courtroom of supporters, some of whom traveled to U.S. District Court in Greenbelt in a yellow school bus, Zelinsky said Marilyn Mosby lied “over and over and over again” during the mortgage process, and now “blames everyone but herself.”

Zelinsky raised the fact that the one-time top prosecutor was convicted of perjury by a different jury in November, casting doubt on her testimony in this case. In the earlier case, Mosby was found to have lied about suffering financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing an early withdrawal of her retirement funds.

She used the $80,000 she withdrew, under a provision of a federal pandemic relief law, to close on the properties in Florida worth almost $1 million combined: an eight-bedroom house near Disney World and a beachside condo on the Gulf Coast.

“Marilyn Mosby is a convicted federal perjurer,” he said. “The defendant is not credible.”

Supporters clustered around Mosby during breaks and escorted her to a waiting car when she left for lunch and at the end of the day. They chanted, “not guilty,” and “witch hunt,” outside the courthouse.

With the jury not in the courtroom, Mosby’s attorney, public defender James Wyda, raised the issue of court staff making negative and, at times, offensive comments about her in the courthouse that jurors might have heard.

U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby expressed concern about the statements, and acknowledged struggling with how to rule. But she declined to poll the jurors about whether they heard them, saying it would introduce the idea to them simply by asking.

“I am deeply disappointed these statements occurred. Frankly, I was shocked,” Griggsby told the lawyers. “Simply not acceptable.”

Grace urged jurors to take a broad view of the case, and consider how the Mosby’s marriage faltered under the stresses of her job as state’s attorney, even receiving death threats after she charged the officers involved in the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray in 2015, whose death had led to unrest and rioting.

Both Mosbys testified that he was in charge of the taxes, and that he had not been honest with her about them. Marilyn Mosby chose to believe the man she had been with since they were college sweethearts at Tuskegee University, Grace said.

Despite divorcing, Grace said, “there was love in the Mosby marriage.

“We don’t give up easily on the people we love,” she said. “We hold on too long. We trust too long.”

Referring repeatedly to the often emotional testimony the one-time couple gave, Grace urged jurors to look beyond the documents and exhibits.

“The evidence is the reality of life,” Grace said. “The reality of life is messy and complicated. But complicated does not mean criminal.”

Zelinsky raised the question of why Marilyn Mosby accepted those assurances. He contrasted Mosby’s professional background and responsibilities with her testimony that she did not question other people further, from her mortgage broker to her husband, on important matters such as loan applications and tax liabilities.

“She is the top prosecutor in the city of Baltimore,” he said. “The defendant knew exactly what she was doing. She was careful. She was meticulous.

“Her story makes no sense,” Zelinsky said. “It’s wildly unbelievable.”

Another prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney, also raised doubts in a rebuttal, questioning why Marilyn Mosby would continue to believe her then-husband, declaring: “C’mon!” and “Use your common sense.”

He cited Nick Mosby’s ongoing issues with the taxes and his own finances, and his admitted efforts to mislead his wife about them, and Marilyn Mosby’s recent perjury convictions.

“Do you trust Nick Mosby?” Delaney asked. “Do you trust Marilyn Mosby?”

Baltimore Sun reporter Alex Mann contributed to this article.