Shortly after being elected as chief prosecutor, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said prosecutors in the hardscrabble town had the “toughest job in America.”
Mosby, only on the job since January, now faces what is likely to be the toughest case of her nascent career — whether criminal charges should be filed against Baltimore police officers in the controversial death of Freddie Gray.
Gray, 25, died in police custody from a fatal spinal cord injury, one week after he was arrested. Six officers involved in his arrest have been suspended with pay, and an investigation is underway.
“She’s going to deliver on doing it right, and getting it right. I’m confident in that,” A. Dwight Pettit, a civil rights attorney and Mosby supporter, told CNN on Thursday.
“She’s very dedicated and part of what she campaigned on was bringing integrity to the office, and so I believe that she will move in a methodical way,” he said. “And I think that she will follow where the evidence leads. I do not think she will follow just public opinion.”
Mosby received a report Thursday from Baltimore police on their investigation. She said the report would supplement her office’s own examination of the case.
Mosby, 35, comes from a long line of police officers, including her grandfather, four uncles and her mother. She is married to Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby, and they have two daughters.
During her campaign, Mosby spoke about witnessing the murder of her cousin on her front doorstep.
“I learned very early on that the criminal justice system isn’t just the police, the judges and the state’s attorney’s. It’s much more than that. I believe that we are justice system. We, the members of the community, are the justice system because we are the victims of crimes,” she said.
Mary Koch, an attorney for Gray’s family, believes that the new chief prosecutor has her work cut out for her.
“The family wants the truth and they want it to be arrived at very carefully and that’s not going to be an easy job for Ms. Mosby,” said Koch, adding: “That’s her job. That’s the job she took on.”
