BALTIMORE — A judge will decide the next steps in former Baltimore city state's attorney Marilyn Mosby's perjury trial Friday, after allowing her entire defense team to withdraw from the case a week ago today.
After Mosby lost her defense team, the court ordered the federal public defender's office to take over as Mosby's new council.
The judge is expected to release a new timeline for the trial Friday. Mosby's long delayed trial was supposed to start next month on March 27. It's already been delayed twice and with her defense team gone federal prosecutors fear it could lead to a third delay.
One week ago, federal judge Lydia Griggsby allowed all six members of Mosby's defense team to drop out of this case.
Mosby's lead attorney, A. Scott Bolden, faced criminal contempt charges after Griggsby accused him of violating several court rules.
Three of the five other attorneys work with Bolden and raised concerns about the possibility of being called as witnesses against Bolden, creating a conflict of interest in representing Mosby. The remaining two attorneys said they would not be able to handle the case alone.
After allowing Mosby's entire defense team to quit and finding her unable to afford new legal counsel, the judge ordered a public defender to take their place in Mosby's perjury trial.
She's accused of lying about experiencing financial hardship during the pandemic in order to make penalty free withdrawals from her retirement account.
Mosby’s attorneys have argued that the pandemic had an impact on her personal finances and consulting businesses.
Prosecutors have said she used that money to buy two vacation homes in Florida while at the same time claiming financial hardship and making about $250,000 as Baltimore city’s state's attorney .
Since the judge has assigned a public defender, a new attorney will need time to get up to speed on this case, and with a March 27 trial date looming, it most likely will lead to yet another delay.
The judge told attorneys on both sides to come up with a potential timeline to move the case forward.
Their timeline is due to be presented in court Friday, February 3.
