BALTIMORE — State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby was in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing for her perjury charges and making false statements on a mortgage application in connection with the purchase of two vacation homes in Florida.
Mosby's trial will start on Sept. 19.
In her pretrial, the court granted the defense's motion that prior investigations into State's Attorney Mosby can't be used in her trial.
Prosecutors allege that Mosby twice lied in 2020 when she withdrew a total of $90,000 from her city Deferred Compensation Plan.
At the time, the federal government allowed applicants to make such withdrawals only if they had experienced certain financial hardship as result of COVID-19.
Prosecutors say Mosby falsely claimed COVID related financial hardships in order to qualify, despite receiving her full gross salary of nearly a quarter-million dollars, which breaks down to $9,183.54 every two-weeks.
RELATED: Federal prosecutors investigating Marilyn and Nick Mosby
Mosby's defense attorney Scott A. Bolden suggested that her private businesses were negatively impacted from the pandemic.
The Inspector General found no evidence of revenue or income related to the businesses, but did find $5,000 of related expenses reported on Mosby's 2019 personal tax return. Another major revelation from the Inspector General was Mosby's initial failure to report the businesses on a 2019 State financial disclosure form.
She allegedly denied owing anything, when in reality a $45,022 lien had been placed on she and her husband's properties as result of unpaid taxes between 2014 and 2015.
RELATED: Marilyn Mosby's lawyer indicates her personal businesses were impacted by COVID
Bolden claimed she knew nothing about the lien at the time, although charging documents show the IRS sent mailings in November 2015 and 2016 to Mosby's home notifying her of the debts.
From 2017 to 2019, the IRS sent three more letters to Mosby's home advising that her tax returns for each of those years would be withheld and instead go towards her unpaid debts. In March 2020, the lien was placed by the IRS.
Additionally, Mosby allegedly signed an agreement that would have made one of the homes in Florida her second residence, which gave her exclusive control over the property, including for short-term rentals.
Court ruled to DENY motion to eliminate how funds were used.
— Kendall Green (@KNDLGRNTV) September 7, 2022
Court ruled to GRANT motion to remove prior investigations of defendant.
Court ruled to DENY motion to strike the term ‘hardship’ previously discussed.
The feds said that was illegal because she had already signed paperwork before that with a home management company giving them control over the rental of the property.
The court then denied the defense's other motions.
The judge denied the defense's motion to remove a forensic accountant as expert witness, and to eliminate and exclude how her funds were used.
"What she ultimately did with the money is irrelevant," her defense attorney said.
Defense attorney motions to remove forensic accountant as expert witness as States Attorney Mosby’s pretrial hearing begins.
— Kendall Green (@KNDLGRNTV) September 7, 2022
The government responded by saying the "defense is confusing expert witness and background with what she’ll do in trial."
The government said the expert witness will identify the "total number of inflow and outflow" to define potential adverse consequences of COVID.
As for the use of the funds, the government argued that the relevance of the evidence is ‘simple.’
They said "if the defendant had adverse consequences, they (funds) would’ve been used to mitigate adverse consequences of COVID."
The defense asked the court to exclude all other evidence of prior investigations "largely because it’s irrelevant and highly prejudicial." The attorney called it "prior bad-act evidence" and deemed it unreliable.
The court also denied motion to strike the term "hardship."
If convicted, Mosby faces a maximum sentence of 70-years behind bars.
