American justice

  We all hear a lot about the criminal justice system in America. It is mostly maligned these days as being systemically racist. But I still believe we have a very fair system, as fair as it can be made to be anyway. I realize it doesn't feel that way when you are guilty, or someone you know is guilty, or found guilty when you believe they shouldn't have been. I'm sometimes to be found in that camp as well. There are times when it just doesn't seem fair at all. I was thinking about all of that after hearing the verdict issued by the jury in the Marilyn Mosby federal mortgage fraud trial. The decision of the jury was basically, it's alright to lie if you don't believe you are lying. They found her not guilty on one charge, but guilty on another. Thing is, both charges concerned perjury, telling lies. 

  I'll try to explain. Unless you live in Maryland and get the news from the city of Baltimore you most likely know little about this case. Marilyn Mosby, former states attorney for the city of Baltimore, was federally indicted on charges of mortgage fraud and perjury. As with a lot of cases there were numerous charges and the judge agreed to prosecute them in separate trials. The first trial on perjury charges was held and she was found guilty. Sentencing was postponed until after the second trial. So, the second trial is held, the one concerning mortgage fraud. It's important to note that her husband, Nick Mosby, is the president of the city council for Baltimore. He heads up the financial committee as well. In between trials they got divorced. 

 Marilyn Mosby is attempting to buy two properties in Florida. She had withdrawn money from her retirement account claiming a covid hardship. That was the first trial, and she was proven guilty of perjury. The fact was she had seen an increase in her pay during that time and hadn't suffered any covid related hardship whatsoever. She lied on the forms and lied in person when questioned about that. Forward to the most recent trial. On mortgage forms she claimed she had no knowledge of previous tax liens on her home with then husband Nick. Their taxes were five years in arrears! Marylin Mosby claimed she had no knowledge about that despite testimony and proof from the federal government that over forty letters had been sent, a portion of them registered mail. Her claim being, I didn't read them. That was also her claim about the mortgage forms. She said, I have people that do that, I didn't read them. Her ex-husband takes the stand and says, it's all my fault. He says he hid all of that from her because he just didn't want her to know.

 That's pretty much it in a nutshell. There is a lot of other legal stuff, charges and accusations. There are several charges. The most serious charge, a federal crime, being signing those mortgage applications and checking the boxes saying there were no tax liens or outstanding loans. The jury decided she was not guilty. She wasn't guilty because the jury believes she didn't know about that. So, I see that as, she's guilty, we all know she is guilty, but it's alright to be guilty because she didn't know. But she was found guilty of mortgage fraud on a second property because she claimed her then husband had gifted her five thousand dollars so she could secure a favorable interest rate on that loan. It was proven that she actually sent him the money, he shuffled it around, and sent it back to her. The jury found her guilty of lying about that on her mortgage application because of a letter she had signed. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive. 

 Now you could say all of that was white collar crime. No one got hurt except the bank. The fact that both of them are public officials and that Marilyn Mosby herself is a lawyer didn't seem to influence the jury's decision. Nick Mosby is still president of the city council. Still the chairman of the financial committee despite his tax issues and having his personal vehicle repossessed twice! Marilyn Mosby is currently unemployed. The system is working. The jury has spoken. You aren't guilty of lying unless you know it is a lie. All I have to do is convince you I didn't know. My husband didn't pay our taxes for five years, his vehicle was repossessed two times, all of that was on the evening news months before any of this took place. But she told the jury, I didn't know anything about that. Sure, I'm a lawyer but I didn't read those contracts, I just signed them. And the jury says, not guilty. Was justice served? If I break the law but didn't know I was breaking the law, am I innocent? Not according to the law! Ignorance of the law is no excuse! Well, sometimes it is. And that is American justice. That was her defense, I was ignorant.