Last month in American Greatness, I documented how a pro-criminal state’s attorney’s leftist crime policies and the failed leadership of a mayor and police commissioner have made Baltimore the most violent, dysfunctional, dangerous, crime-ridden city in America. With record-breaking waves of violence and chronic disorder, the city had hit rock bottom. I didn’t think Baltimore crime, or the city’s corrupt leadership, could get much worse. But it has.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, in concert with her fellow subversive district attorneys infesting and undermining the American criminal justice system, has effectively dismantled the rule of law in “Charm City.” As a George Soros-affiliated radical prosecutor whose primary objective has been to keep criminal offenders out of jail, Mosby has not only unleashed unprecedented violence against law-abiding citizens but now she’s waging a murderous war on cops.
When Baltimore Police Department (BPD) Officer Keona Holley was ambushed and assassinated last Christmas by two career criminals while she sat parked in her squad car, I observed how Mosby’s openly pro-criminal policies had brought the war on cops to Baltimore. She had created an environment of lawlessness so pervasive that when the two thugs sneaked up behind Holley’s vehicle and shot her in the head, they were undeterred by any fear of consequences.
Mosby has protected criminals from accountability in every possible way. She has dismissed thousands of criminal warrants and active cases and refused to prosecute nine quality-of-life crimes. When compelled to fully prosecute violent criminals she circumvents real justice through plea bargain deals. In this way, she can claim a technical “conviction,” let the criminal off the hook with minimal punishment, and deny justice to actual crime victims.
Mosby has kept the details of most plea deals well-hidden. But some of the most outrageous have come to light. In May 2021, an offender attempted to burn his former girlfriend and her two roommates to death by setting their townhouse on fire while they slept. Charged with 18 felony counts and facing up to 60 years in prison, Mosby allowed the offender to walk after spending less than six months in jail. Mosby cut the plea deal without even consulting the victims.
This fraud was so outrageous that even the offender complained that his penalty was too lenient and sent the wrong message! “I shouldn’t be out right now,” the man said in January. “I disrupted somebody’s life . . . Personally, yes, I want to be out but, principally, no I shouldn’t be out because I could have done a lot more damage than I did. I was expecting to get time; people who were in that situation, they should expect to get time.” When the criminal has more honesty and integrity than the state’s attorney—that’s a problem.
Marilyn Mosby has a lot of blood on her hands.
First elected in 2015, she “reimagined” the city prosecutor’s office by placing offenders’ interests before victims’ interests. The impact was immediate. During Mosby’s first year in office, homicides surged 62 percent , from 211 to 348. Murders have remained above 300 for each of her seven years in office—surpassing 2,480 victims. And the crisis continues to escalate. 2021 was the deadliest year per capita in Baltimore history, 2022 has been even worse, and June was the deadliest month this year with 111 victims murdered or shot.
Baltimore’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott and Police Commissioner Michael Harrison have given their full support to Mosby’s pro-criminal policies. They have joined Mosby in rejecting the proven Broken Windows policing strategy which prevents violent crime by enforcing the law and prosecuting offenders for committing non-violent quality-of-life crimes.
Enabling and emboldening criminals, they have contributed to the proliferation of open-air drug markets and the increasing violence of the so-called “squeegee kids”—mobs of thugs who intimidate, threaten, and attack law-abiding motorists across the city who refuse to pay extortion for unwanted window-washing. On Thursday, an innocent motorist paid for the Mosby-Scott-Harrison criminal-enabling plan with his life. A squeegee-thug shot him dead during rush hour near Baltimore’s famed Inner Harbor when the driver confronted the mob.
But now, Mosby’s enabling of criminals has taken Baltimore violence to a new level. Her plea deals keeping violent repeat offenders out of jail have directly resulted in unleashing cop killers on the community. Last month, instead of being behind bars where they belonged, Mosby plea deal-sponsored criminals were walking free to murder a Wicomico County Sheriff’s deputy and attempt to murder a Baltimore Police Department sergeant.
In early June, Sheriff’s Deputy Glenn Hilliard, a dedicated 18-year law enforcement veteran, husband, and father of two daughters and a son, was shot and killed by a convicted armed robber he was trying to arrest for another crime. In 2019, the cop killer had been convicted of the armed robbery of a McDonald’s in Baltimore. Facing 20 years in prison, he instead walked away with probation—courtesy of a Mosby plea deal.
Late last month, BPD Sergeant Kenneth Ramberg, while attempting to get an armed offender out of a car after making a traffic stop, was dragged for two blocks, and sustained serious injuries as the driver tried to kill him. Sergeant Ramberg, who had been originally placed on full life support, has been upgraded to fair condition. Thank God.
The BPD sergeant’s wife and family are devastated. Not surprisingly, they have little confidence in a state’s attorney who is a self-appointed advocate for criminals.
Just as with the criminal who murdered Deputy Glenn Hilliard, Sergeant Ramberg’s attempted murderer should have been in prison. The thug who tried to murder Sergeant Ramberg was also free because of—you guessed it—a Mosby plea deal. The convicted felon and repeat violent offender with 19 prior arrests as an adult, had been allowed to plead down another attempted murder charge, cop a guilty plea to multiple gun charges, and agreed to a 15-year sentence. But Mosby’s deal allowed the felon to walk after only 20 months, allowing him to get back to doing what he does best—commit violent crime and try to kill people.
The most disgraceful part of this escalating tragedy has been the total lack of action, outrage, or demands for accountability from Baltimore’s political leaders. The mayor and police commissioner have refused to criticize or condemn Mosby for her plea deals that have enabled violent repeat offenders to kill with impunity. The City Council and elected state officials, with the lone exception of Maryland’s governor, also remain silent.
Reacting to the heat of negative public opinion, Scott and Harrison have recently been compelled to utter vague objections about “criminals not facing consequences” but adamantly refuse to hold Mosby accountable. Will they ever? Don’t hold your breath—because all three are on the same team. Under their direction, misdemeanor drug arrests are down 91 percent. The Mosby-Scott-Harrison strategy rejects enforcing the law, holding criminals accountable, and police in favor of so-called “violence interrupters.” The disastrous results in increased murders, shootings, carjackings, drug dealing, social disorder, and community fear speak for themselves.
Mayor Scott’s continued support of Mosby’s pro-criminal policies is hardly a news flash. Not holding criminal offenders personally accountable for their behavior fits perfectly into his leftist Democratic politics and programs. And Scott is no friend of the police. As Baltimore City Council president, he led the Black Lives Matter-inspired movement to defund the Baltimore Police Department by $22 million (since restored). One of the primary long-term results of his so-called violence reduction plan, actually a police reduction plan—will be the permanent attrition and extensive dismantling of BPD which is already undermanned by 500 officers.
What is unforgivable, however, is for a police chief to remain silent after two violent repeat offenders are set free through corrupt plea deals—one murdering a brother Sheriff’s deputy and the other trying to murder one of his own department’s sergeants. How is it possible for a police chief to refuse to call out a corrupt prosecutor who enables cop killers? It’s disgraceful.
Stunned by his continued refusal to take a stand, Commissioner Harrison was pressed by a local television reporter as to whether or not he would hold Mosby accountable for the plea deal that resulted in the attempted murder of one of his officers. After repeated evasions, the best response Harrison could come up with was, “Well, it’s not my job to do her evaluation.” How pathetic. In case you were wondering why morale in the Baltimore Police Department is so lousy—now you know.
At least the Baltimore City Police Fraternal Order of Police had the courage and integrity to speak out. FOP President Mike Mancuso said, “Scott, Harrison, and Mosby have created this mess and I ask the citizens of Baltimore to hold them accountable because they do not hold each other accountable.” Truer words were never spoken.