Prosecutor in Freddie Gray Murder Case Comes From Family of Boston Police
Marilyn Mosby, the Maryland state prosecutor who filed charges against six police officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, would know what police work looks like. It runs in her family.
She may be Baltimore’s heavy legal hand, but she has some deep Massachusetts roots.
Mosby, 35, is a daughter, granddaughter, great-great grandaughter and niece to law enforcement officers. Her father and mother, along with three uncles, were all police officers, she told Baltimore Magazine.
Mosby’s grandfather, Prescott R. Thompson Sr., served on the Boston Police Department and was a founding member of the Massachusetts Association of Afro-American Police (now known as the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, or MAMLEO).
A 1994 article in The Boston Globe detailed Thompson’s family history of policework:
But policing was in his blood. It was virtually the family business. His grandfather had been an officer in New Bedford. His uncle had been one of the first black Metropolitan District Commission police officers. His older brother was a Boston police officer. Four of his five children are officers.
Thompson lost sight in his eye while on the job when acid from a car battery exploded in his face. Later, he sued the Boston Police Department, saying he was discriminated against due to his race and his handicap, according to the Globe.
Thompson, of Dorchester, passed away in February at the age of 82.
Mosby’s official biography declares her “an inner-city Boston native’’ — that is, Dorchester. According to her husband’s campaign blog, Mosby was raised by her grandparents and a single mother. She was one of three black girls who attended Dover-Sherborn Regional High School as part of a busing program to increase diversity.
Mosby was 14 years old when her 17-year-old cousin, mistaken for a drug dealer, was shot and killed outside her family’s home in Boston.
While earning her degree from Boston College Law School, Mosby worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston and in the Homicide Unit of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. She was also the Northeast Regional 2nd Vice Chair of the Black Law Students Association and received the Massachusetts Black Judges Association Book Award.
Married to a city councilman, she has fielded questions insinuating she has aspirations beyond public service.
Some critics have linked her decision to bring charges against the Baltimore police officers as a high-profile push toward her and her husband’s political futures, according to WBUR.
Mosby also faces scrutiny given her relationship with Freddie Gray family’s attorney. The Baltimore Sun reports that Gray’s family attorney Billy Murphy donated $5,000 to her campaign and was also a member of her transition committee.
Indeed, the national attention on Mosby is undeniable. While Mosby resides in Baltimore with her husband and two daughters, she acknowledged during Friday’s press conference announcing the charges that her decision to prosecute this case spreads a message nationwide.
“To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace,’’’ Mosby said. “To the youth of this city: I will seek justice on your behalf.’’
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