BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is seeking to avoid prison when she is sentenced for perjury and mortgage fraud later this month.

In court papers filed Thursday afternoon, Mosby’s defense team indicated it will ask for probation, a sentence that would fall well below the federal guidelines of 18 to 24 months for the charges. The defense also is challenging the sentencing guidelines.

The prosecution has not yet filed its memorandum, so the government’s sentencing request remains unknown. Mosby faces a maximum of 40 years in prison, but maximum sentences are rare.

Mosby’s sentencing memorandum is expected to be filed imminently.

Simultaneously, Mosby is seeking a presidential pardon, an unusual move for a defendant who has not been sentenced. She has spent the past week doing media appearances in which she described the prosecution as politically motivated retribution for her efforts to reform the criminal justice system.

The NAACP and 14 other civil rights organizations also have joined in calling for Mosby to receive a pardon. The organization’s letter claims that Mosby is the victim of a malicious prosecution that began under former President Donald Trump, with whom Mosby publicly tangled.

“We are deeply concerned that the last administration abused their power to advance a meritless indictment against Ms. Mosby and worse, the current administration’s U.S. Department of Justice ignored a clear political motive of the malicious prosecution against Ms. Mosby,” the coalition of civil rights organizations wrote in their letter.

The prosecution has taken place under the Biden-nominated U.S. Attorney for Maryland, Erek Barron. His office declined to comment Thursday.

While the investigation into her started earlier, Mosby wasn’t indicted until January 2022, nearly a year after Biden took office.

Mosby has not formally applied for a pardon, according to the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which usually reviews petitions before passing on recommendations to the president. Experts say Mosby may be trying to catch the attention of President Joe Biden in an effort to bypass the formal application process. Presidents can issue pardons at any time, not just after sentencing.

The White House press secretary was noncommittal this week when asked about pardoning Mosby.

It’s not clear how the pardon campaign will be received at Mosby’s May 23 sentencing. In general, judges look favorably on defendants to take responsibility for their actions, but Mosby has remained defiant, insisting that she did nothing wrong by withdrawing money from her city retirement account and using it to put down payments on two Florida vacation properties.

Jurors disagreed, finding that Mosby committed perjury when she claimed to have suffered a pandemic-related financial loss in order to pull money out of her retirement account early under federal legislation that offered emergency economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic.

A second jury convicted Mosby of one count of mortgage fraud in February. That verdict centered on the government’s claim that Mosby submitted a false “gift letter” when she applied for a mortgage on one of the Florida properties.

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