COUNTER ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE TO THE ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE FILED BY STATE’S ATTORNEY
IVAN BATES AGAINST MARILYN MOSBY, ESQ. AND BECKY FELDMAN, ESQ.
December 17, 2025
1 of 5
This Counter Attorney Grievance is being filed against Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates by
the Committee to Free Marilyn Mosby. The Committee to Free Marilyn Mosby is a grassroots
organization headed by distinguished civil rights leader, Co-Chair Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq., Peace
Ambassador to the United Nations, senior member of the World Conference of Mayors, as well as
numerous other prominent organizations, along with Co-Chair Dr. Josephine Mourning, President of
the regional SCLC.
The Committee to Free Marilyn Mosby was formed by leaders of numerous grassroots
organizations. I am extremely honored and quite humbled to be their chairman. We organized
because we were troubled by the pernicious persecution of Marilyn J. Mosby, Esq. whose only real
crime, as far as we could see, was having the courage and conviction to challenge the criminal
justice system’s unconstitutional treatment of poor inner-city blacks. During her tenure, Ms. Mosby
instituted smart, effective policies, which were later implemented throughout the nation. Whether
one agrees with her or not, it cannot be debated that her tenacious and courageous willingness to
hold all stakeholders accountable not only stopped a 17-day riot dead in its tracks, but it also drew
the anger of very powerful people including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). When it comes to
the policing of black bodies in poor inner-city neighborhoods, the FOP, who is intent on maintaining
the status quo, filed at least five separate lawsuits against former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
However, a federal appeals court ultimately and rightfully granted her immunity, meaning the FOP
didn't win those suits. Mosby was punished for daring to challenge unconstitutional, ineffective,
and in some cases, corrupt policing in black Baltimore. We watched our government spend millions
of our tax dollars to wage war against her, augmented by the corporate media. We observed as she
became the victim of the corrupt system she tried so diligently to reform. In the process she lost
everything, including her marriage, her friends, and the support of her church. We, as decent, fair-
minded citizens could no longer sit idly by as Mosby faced death threats, FOP lawsuits, and later
trials for civil matters, that even if true, could have easily been settled out of court with a fine or
payment plan. We watched as agents of the state launched a thinly veiled attempt to destroy
Marilyn Mosby, thereby using her to serve as a clear example to others who would dare challenge
the system. In particular, she was a warning to those who had the audacity to hold the police
accountable for crimes against the black community.
The purpose of this Counter Attorney Grievance is to address the misuse of authority and to expose
the perceived political motivation behind Mr. Bates’ actions. We believe that the only viable
defense against such attacks is to expose them for what they are. By doing so, we are asking State’s
Attorney Ivan Bates to look in the mirror of ethics prior to engaging in unethical tactics to impugn
the integrity of not one but two, potential future political rivals. We view this attack on Ms. Mosby
and her former Assistant State’s Attorney, Ms. Becky Feldman, as a conflict of interest and as a
clear violation of the ethics required and expected of the State's Attorney's Office. Our argument is
outlined below:
1. Unethical Use of Power
State’s Attorney Ivan Bates is believed to have engaged in a highly unethical misuse of his office’s
power. The actions against Ms. Marilyn J. Mosby, Esq. and Ms. Becky Feldman, Esq. are seen by us
as an attempt to impugn his potential political rivals, thus raising serious questions about the
integrity and impartiality expected from an elected official in his position. Despite proclaiming
publicly for years that Mr. Syed should be given a new trial and using the Syed family to promote his
campaign, Mr. Bates seems to have had a miraculous change of heart. When he won office, he used
his position to signal that it was somehow wrong for Mr. Syed to be freed from serving life in prison,
despite overwhelming factual evidence to support the vacatur motion.
We believe that our tax dollars would be better spent prosecuting dangerous criminals and getting
murderers and repeat violent offenders off the street instead of attempting to harass people who
pose no danger to society such as Ms. Becky Feldman, Esq. and Ms. Marilyn J. Mosby, Esq. In fact, it
is Marilyn Mosby’s policy of focusing on repeat violent offenders that led to the murder rate
flattening in August 2022, and further trending downward until it finally fell below 300 in 2023, the
year she left office. Right wing media falsely and enthusiastically give Ivan Bates credit for this
major development. However, researcher Dr. Lawrence T. Brown and Mayor Brandon Scott have
publicly stated that the decline in homicides and crime in general in Baltimore began towards
the end of Ms. Mosby’s last term. This is contrary to what right wing media has been pushing in
order to falsely credit Bates and to discredit Ms. Mosby. It also should be noted that Marilyn
Mosby’s policies have been implemented throughout the country to help lower violent crime. Filing
an Attorney Grievance against Marilyn Mosby will not lower the rates of violent crime or any other
crime. We believe the State’s Attorney should be laser focused on getting murderers off our streets
and not on spending money hitting back at Marilyn Mosby and Becky Feldman, seemingly due to
their policies of protecting the innocent and the powerless against powerful state and nonstate
actors.
2. Politically Motivated Actions
The attorney grievance filed by Mr. Bates against former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and
former Assistant State’s Attorney Becky Feldman is highly politicized. There is a strong
sentiment that this grievance is not only politically motivated, but that it is also intended as
a punitive measure by Ms. Mosby’s rivals who oppose her progressive policies. For
example, she successfully prosecuted 33 corrupt police officers, thus building the trust
necessary within the community to support our honest officials (the majority of sworn
officers) in the fight against crime. She also freed 13 men from lengthy prison sentences,
after a thorough reinvestigation revealed that they were, in fact, innocent of the crimes for
which they had been convicted. Moreover, it was reported in The Sun paper that a person’s
affiliated with the owner of the local Fox affiliate donated over $200,000 to Mosby’s
opponents’ campaign. Ms. Mosby’s courageous actions seeking justice for her poor
constituents in situations that would otherwise have been swept under the rug by other
State’s Attorneys who lacked the will and the courage to stand up for powerless people,
has raised the ire of some very powerful people. In fact, in 2016 then political candidate
Donald Trump famously stated, “That prosecutor in Baltimore ought to prosecute herself,”
after Mosby stopped the Freddie Gray riots with the indictment of the officers involved in
the illegal arrest. It should be noted that the Freddie Gray riots were more than about the
death of Freddie Gray. It was about the well-documented mistreatment of the poor and
powerless black residents in his West Baltimore neighborhood. Gray’s death was the last
straw for the residents who were fed up with crimes being committed against them by the
very people who were being paid with their tax dollars to protect and serve them. This well
documented mistreatment as well as the death of Freddie Gray, led to a court-ordered
Consent Decree which went into effect on April 7, 2017. It was aimed at police reform of
documented unconstitutional practices conducted by the Baltimore Police Department against the
citizens of Baltimore.
Ms. Mosby was able to achieve great things while in office even though her budget was cut by then
Governor Larry Hogan. Mr. Bates’ achievements thus far in office have been lackluster by
comparison, as he seems to be more in support of the donor class than the people who lack power
and money. Ms. Mosby consistently demonstrated a capacity to hold all accountable regardless of
their income or status in the community. She told Donald Trump that if he were to send federal
agents into Baltimore to violate her constituents’ First Amendment rights to peacefully protest, she
would prefer charges against those agents.
It should be noted that an FBI investigation against Ms. Mosby was launched during the first Trump
administration. Upon finding no corruption in Ms. Mosby’s office, the investigation devolved into
spending taxpayer dollars to paw through her personal financial records including her mortgage
documents. As we have all learned, using mortgage documents has become the method du jour for
republican operatives to punish progressive prosecutors and other perceived enemies. This
resulted in her being selectively prosecuted in criminal court and threatened with 40 years in jail for
something that even if true (and we are not convinced they were after sitting court for days) could
have easily been handled outside court with a fine and/or repayment plan. The indictment was
strategically timed to be announced immediately after Ms. Mosby announced her bid for reelection.
This is significant because although Ivan Bates had nothing to do with this case of corruption, it is
doubtful that he could have been elected State’s Attorney without it. Almost every major black
church in Baltimore was questioned about Ms. Mosby, they questioned her children's dance
instructors, her hairdresser was questioned, and she received numerous death threats and had to
hire security to protect her and her family. She also received negative news propaganda that
deliberately left out valuable facts and reported mainly from the side of the prosecution during her
trial. She was sued by the FOP. The series of suits by the FOP and other costs associated with
protecting her family, to include hundreds of thousands in legal fees, led to her being declared
indigent. As a result, she was assigned a public defender by the trial judge. During her trial, her
passport was taken away. Also, in an unprecedented move, the prosecutors petitioned the
Maryland State Bar to take Mosby’s law license before the trial was over. Although Mr. Bates was not
involved of any of this, the general public has very little knowledge that these attacks against Mosby
took place. This secrecy has created a climate that makes it comfortable for him to file an attorney
grievance against her, because it places her in the context of being just another criminal black
Baltimore political official.
3. Unprecedented and Unfair Practice
The grievance filed by State’s Attorney Ivan Bates is considered unnecessary, unprecedented, and
unfair. Indeed, it is cartoonishly Machiavellian, and it serves no constructive purpose. Instead, it
further tarnishes Marilyn Mosby’s image in the public eye. It also carries the potential to jeopardize
her ability to practice law by risking her law license. The obvious goal of all this is to remove Ms.
Mosby and Ms. Becky Feldman as potential political rivals.
Most attorneys acknowledge that effective prosecution requires significant discretion. Therefore,
traditionally, prosecutors (especially State's Attorneys) have been immune from inadvertent
consequences. Now, however, that immunity is being questioned. Is it ethical for someone in office
to revisit a potential rival’s past legal decisions searching for errors to discredit them? If the
standard changes, will defense attorneys start suing prosecutors over old cases? Since no one is
perfect, theoretically Mr. Bates himself could face similar scrutiny in the future if he continues
down this short-sighted path.
Sinclair Broadcasting affiliates donated over $200,000 to Marilyn Mosby’s opponents in past
campaigns, including significant contributions to Ivan Bates. The Maryland-based Sinclair Group,
owns more than 192 television stations nationwide and is known for its right-leaning news. It raises
concern when those reporting the news contribute to political campaigns against individuals
whose views conflict with the outlet's politics. It also raises concern that these news outlets report
negatively against these individuals. These facts tend to give the appearance of impropriety and
conflict of interest if Sinclair executives and affiliates donated such large sums to Marilyn Mosby’s
rivals including thousands of dollars to the Ivan Bates Campaign.
According to a document she released on June 30, 2025, Ms. Becky Feldman, Esq. reached out to
Bates with an unconditional offer to be a resource and a support as he reviewed the Syed case.
However, he completely disregarded her offer. Instead of looking at new evidence and the
opportunity to focus on another suspect, Bates seemed intent on focusing on discrediting what had
already been done.
Ms. Feldman stated further that by withdrawing the vacatur motion, Bates claimed he found no new
issues to present to the court. However, there were many issues in the Syed case that were highly
problematic and without question warranted a new trial via vacatur. One example based on expert
opinions at the Department of Defense concerned the cell phone tower information. It was deemed
inadequate to state with any degree of specificity that the defendant’s phone was located in the
vicinity of the park. Yet, the cell phone evidence was the crux of the state's case.
Ms. Feldman said it best when she stated in her document, “My investigation was done carefully
and with the highest degree of integrity to ensure a just result. I have dedicated my life to justice and
compassion, but I have become collateral damage in Bates’ Trumpian attacks against those who
stand in the way of his political agenda. We should all be very concerned.”
“The cruelest part of all of this is Bates is more focused on denigrating his predecessor who left
office over 2 1/2 years ago then ensuring that the Defendant received a fair trial and that the right
person is held accountable for this heinous crime,” she stated further.
One of the major functions of government is to protect people from the power of the powerful. This
includes corporations and agents of the state as well. Protest is the highest form of patriotism. This
is why it is protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution. When our government fails to
protect people who question suspicious motives and actions of the people in power, it is the duty of
all just, law- abiding citizens, wishing to thrive in a fair, just, and democratic society to stand firm in
their right to do so. This is the principle upon which the Committee to Free Marilyn Mosby was
formed, and for which it stands. This is the precise purpose for which this Counter Attorney
Grievance exists. We have no animosity towards State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, we only seek justice
for Ms. Marilyn Mosby, Esq. and Ms. Becky Feldman, Esq. who have seemly become an unfortunate
pawn in a Machiavellian game of brinkmanship. It should be noted by all those concerned about
ethics that both women are potential rivals to Ivan Bates for office. As we have seen, officials at the
federal level engaging in retribution not only causes the people to lose trust in their government’s
ability to administer justice fairly and impartially, it cheapens the office of the official who engages
in it. We have no desire for this to become the norm locally. When they were properly informed
about what was really going on, nearly 100,000 people signed a petition urging former President
Biden to pardon Marilyn Mosby. In addition, more than 100 people are signatories to the
Executive Summary for this grievance, which I will send separately. This Counter Attorney
Grievance will remain until Mr. Bates withdraws his grievance against Ms. Feldman and Ms. Mosby;
as soon as he does, our complaint will be withdrawn as well. From a moral and ethical standpoint,
the potential harm to your office and the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City is too
significant to condone Mr. Bates' action, especially if it is as it appears to us. Simply another feeble
attempt to revoke Ms. Mosby's law license. And in the final analysis of this document you should
feel as we do that she has suffered enough for trying to do the right thing by her constituents in the
face of death threats and incredible persecution by the media, the FOP and the courts. Let the
person among us who would have shown more perseverance and integrity in the face of such
adversity cast the next stone. Otherwise please, we, The Members of the Committee to Free Marilyn
Mosby, implore you. Do your duty to the people and to the state of Maryland. Please stop this.
Notes gleaned from the Becky Feldman document released June 30, 2025:
In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ivan Bates stated that if elected he would drop the
case against Syed. “The two pieces of evidence that the case relied on have been shown to not be
reliable in any way shape or form. There's not enough evidence to proceed.”
In an HBO docuseries, Ivan Bates stated in 2019 that he would exonerate Adnan on the spot if
elected.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Tyrone W. Bost, USAR
Chairman, Committee to Free Marilyn Mosby
410-978-6889