PROSECUTOR GRABS SPOTLIGHT IN BALTIMORE spotlight in Baltimore

Marilyn Mosby campaigned on a promise to hold police accountable.

And on Friday, as Baltimore’s nononsense top prosecutor announced criminal charges against six police officers in connection with the highprofile death of Freddie Gray, she declared that “no one is above the law.”

But those who would presume that the Baltimore state’s attorney is somehow anti-cop would be mistaken. As Mosby made clear at an electrifying press conference in a city that has been shaken by violent protests and looting, she comes from five generations of police officers.

The accusations against the six officers, she intoned, should not be construed as an indictment of the entire force. To the rank and file, she said, “thank you for your courage.”

Such is the complicated and intriguing backstory of Mosby, who is now being lauded on social media as an “instant political sensation” and “the prosecutor who could save Baltimore.”

Even at 35 and the youngest top prosecutor of any major North American city, according to her website, Mosby doesn’t seem bothered that she has suddenly been thrust to the centre of a national discussion over race relations and police conduct just four months after being sworn in.

According to a profile of Mosby in the Baltimore City Paper, Mosby grew up in inner-city Boston in a home known by neighbours as the “police house” and got bused to a mostly-white school.

Her legal career was influenced by the murder of her 17-year-old cousin, Diron, killed right outside her home after being mistaken for a drug dealer.

“I heard him leave the house,” Mosby told the paper. “I heard gunshots and I heard a scream. I opened the door and saw someone running, and I saw someone lying on the street but I did not recognize it as him.”

During her campaign run last year, Mosby vowed to “apply justice fairly, even to those who wear a badge,” the Baltimore Sun reported.

At her swearing-in ceremony in January, she said as a black woman, she understood how much the criminal justice system affects communities of colour.

“I will seek justice on your behalf,” she said to rapturous applause.

At the same time, Mosby vowed to make it a priority to get violent, repeat offenders off the streets.

“As a prosecutor living in the heart of West Baltimore, raising two little girls, enough is enough,” she said on her website.

On Friday, as she methodically laid out the events leading up to the death of Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody, she once again was careful to strike a balance in her messaging.

While declaring Gray’s death a homicide, she also implored protesters to channel their energy peacefully.

“I heard your call for, ‘ No justice, no peace,’” she said. “Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.”

But even as she insisted that her office had undertaken a “comprehensive, thorough and independent” investigation, that didn’t stop some legal observers from speculating that her decision to indict the officers was made to shore up her political aspirations and those of her husband, Nick Mosby, a city councilman.

“She is a politician; her husband is a politician. This is a watershed event,” veteran Baltimore defence lawyer Warren Brown told The Associated Press. “There is a lot of collateral damage if she does not indict. For her and her husband, they would be drummed out of office.”

But David Gray, a law professor at the University of Maryland, rejected that assertion.

“She is a politician, but she’s an attorney and prosecutor first. Moreover, part of her platform last year was a commitment to law enforcement accountability and transparency,” he said in an email. “Given those commitments, I do not think she would shy away from charging police officers with crimes if the facts and evidence support criminal charges.”

Mosby has repeatedly said one of her top priorities is restoring trust between law enforcement and the community, using the slogan “our time is now.”

On Friday, she invoked the phrase again in a message aimed squarely at the city’s youth. Telling them this was their moment, she encouraged young people to hold productive rallies to bring about systemic change.

“You’re at the forefront of this cause. And as young people, our time is now.”