Official accused of insulting Marilyn Mosby at trial

A court security officer made “inappropriate, derogatory comments” about former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby during her trial, according to a letter from her attorneys unsealed Thursday.

Jurors on Wednesday found Mosby guilty of one of twocountsofmortgagefraud, three months after another jury convicted her of perjury.

The officer called Mosby an insulting name multiple times and shared his opinion about her case to a group of law clerks in the Greenbelt federal courthouse’s security area on Jan. 24, according to a letter from Federal Public Defender James Wyda and

Assistant Federal Public Defenders Maggie Grace and Sedira Banan that was filed in the case.

U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby unsealed the Jan. 26 letter Thursday in response to a motion from The Baltimore Banner news website. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys opposed the unsealing.

Mosby’s attorneys wrote in the letter that the officer’s “personal opinions stem from his connection to a former colleague from the Baltimore City Police Department who was involved in the Freddie Gray matter.” While she served as Baltimore City’s top prosecutor, Mosby charged six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody.

The letter asked Griggsby to provide information about whether jurors had entered the courthouse that day through the public security check-in area and the results of any internal investigation. Attorneys also asked for the opportunity to interview the law clerks, the officer and other security officers, and that time and shift records for the officer and video tapes dating back to Jan. 17 be saved.

The court pulled the particular officer from security-check duties after the comments, the letter said.

On Monday, while the jury was not in the courtroom, Wyda raised the issue of court staff making negative comments about Mosby to Griggsby.

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.”

Mosby’s sentencing is set for May 23, to follow a forfeiture hearing that same day.