NAACP urges President Biden to pardon former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby after fraud conviction

BALTIMORE -- As former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's sentencing hearing approaches, the NAACP and more than a dozen other organizations sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday, urging him to pardon her.

In the five-page letter , the human rights group detailed how it believes Mosby was unfairly targeted and unjustly convicted for perjury and mortgage fraud .

Mosby, 44, scheduled to be sentenced on May 23, faces up to 40 years in federal prison.

Justice Department accused of malicious prosecution

The letter accuses the Department of Justice, under former President Donald Trump, of pursuing a "meritless indictment" against Mosby and suggests that the current administration has ignored political motives behind what they call a "malicious prosecution."

"We expect that political persecutions and malicious prosecutions pursued during the Trump Administration would not continue in the Biden Administration," the letter started, emphasizing Mosby's progressive prosecution approach.

Mosby was convicted of about enduring financial hardships related to COVID-19 to withdraw money without penalty from her retirement account and that she falsified information on loan applications for two Florida properties.

The former prosecutor's defense maintained the trial was "politically motivated ."

"The only thing Marilyn Mosby is guilty of is the desire to provide her family with a better life," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson stated upon the release of the letter. "The sad reality is, as Black women take their rightful places in positions of power, dark forces seek to tear down both their progress, and that of our community."

White House responds

Asked about the letter during a recent briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she couldn't comment on the president's thoughts as she hadn't spoken to him about it.

"I want to be really mindful here because that is obviously a Department of Justice process and I don't want to be certainly be speaking to any individual pardon request, that is not something I can do," she said. "[The Department of Justice] employs a process that is thorough and deliberative when it comes to a process to review executive clemency petitions."

Mosby's campaign for a pardon

The letter is the latest development in a broader public campaign advocating for Mosby's pardon. So far, a website has been created and a petition has garnered over 16,000 signatures to date.

In an appearance on MSNBC last week, Mosby said she did nothing wrong and asked for a presidential pardon.

"I think that is appropriate," Mosby said. "I know that I have done absolutely nothing wrong, nothing criminal, nothing to be separated from my children for 40 years as a result of withdrawing $90,000 of my own money. It makes absolutely no sense."