FEATURE: Meet Marilyn Mosby, State Attorney Overseeing The Freddie Gray Investigation

Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby is the person in charge of the investigation of Freddie Gray’s death. Gray suffered a spinal injury while he was in custody of six Baltimore officers, who have been charged in his death.
Though locally well-known, Mosby’s announcement of the charges was the first time she’s been prominent in the national news.  She started as an insurance company attorney and got a surprising and deserved win last November, so this is her first stint as an elected official. She beat out incumbent Gregg Bernstein by portraying herself as a crime crusader, determined to keep repeat offenders off the streets.

It was the murder of Mosby’s 17-year-old cousin back in 1994 that helped her see that she wanted a career in criminal justice. “I learned very early on that the criminal justice system isn’t just the police, the judges and the state’s attorney,” CNN quoted her as saying. “It’s much more than that. I believe that we are the justice system. We, the members of the community, are the justice system because we are the victims of crimes.”

Once she was sworn in, she promised she would fix the justice system and usually these are empty promises by politicians.  “As a Black woman who understands just how much the criminal justice system disproportionately affects communities of color, I will seek justice on your behalf,” she said at the ceremony.

Mosby has only been in this role as Baltimore State Attorney for four months.  At 35 years-old, Mosby is the youngest top prosecutor of any major city in America. Coming from a long line of police officers, Mosby has always been vocal about holding police officers accountable.

“My grandfather, my uncles, my mother, my father — I have five generations of police officers. I know that the majority of police officers are really hard-working officers who are risking their lives day in and day out, but those really bad ones who go rogue do a disservice to the officers who are risking their lives and taking time away from their families,” she told Baltimore Magazine back in January, when she started her tenure as state’s attorney.

In a campaign video for her 2014 campaign for state’s attorney, she said her grandfather “was one of the first African-American police officers in Massachusetts and one of the things he instilled on us is the importance of public service.”

During her campaign for state’s attorney, Mosby said, “Police brutality is completely inexcusable. I’m going to apply justice fairly, even to those who wear a badge.” This is just the kind of person Baltimore needs in their corner.
Mosby is the mother of two adorable daughters and married to Nick Mosby, a Baltimore city councilman who has been very vocal about the Baltimore Uprising. She met him while she was studying political science at Tuskegee University in Alabama. She was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college.
article by Danielle Young via hellobeautiful.com