Marilyn Mosby's lead attorney describes in court documents conflict of interest concerns
BALTIMORE -- Marilyn Mosby's lead attorney says he has a conflict of interest that would prevent him from representing Mosby in her upcoming trial.
A. Scott Bolden filed new court documents, noting that he will need to focus on addressing the possibility that the court may impose criminal contempt sanctions on him or refer him for criminal prosecution to the U.S. Attorney's Office—possibly both, according to court documents.
The court has not made a final ruling on the alleged criminal contempt. Still, all of the trial preparation undertaken by Bolden and Mosby's other lawyers "now takes place under the shadow of a threatened criminal contempt hearing," the documents state.\
Bolden says in the documents that he should be "allowed to withdraw from this case because of the divided loyalties he would otherwise be forced to carry."
"Let there be no mistake: as his undersigned co-counsel attests, Mr. Bolden would do everything in his power to try and ignore his own personal interests while providing the highest caliber legal representation to Ms. Mosby," the documents state. "But there can be no denying the difficult position Mr. Bolden is placed in: he must serve two masters—his own cause and Ms. Mosby's—with two divergent sets of instructions."
Federal prosecutors have previously contested the effort made by Mosby's defense team to withdraw from her perjury and mortgage fraud case, according to court documents.
Last week, her six private lawyers filed a motion to withdraw from her case after a series of rulings earlier this week created significant hurdles for them, including the possibility of criminal contempt charges against Bolden.
Four of the lawyers, who work at Bolden's law firm, said they could no longer represent Mosby because of a conflict, while the remaining two said they don't have the time and resources to take over the defense alone.
Mosby recently left office after serving two high-profile terms as Baltimore state's attorney. She was defeated in a Democratic primary last year after federal prosecutors accused her of lying about experiencing pandemic-related financial hardship in order to make early withdrawals from her retirement account. She used the money to buy two Florida vacation properties.
Mosby faces two counts each of perjury and mortgage fraud. Her trial is scheduled to begin on March 27 in Baltimore.