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Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's lead attorney told jurors in her criminal theft case Thursday that Dixon spent gift cards donated by city developers for one simple reason: She thought they were meant as gifts for her.
That line of defense is likely to turn the mayor's trial into a credibility contest between Dixon and developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, her former boyfriend, who is expected to testify that the cards were intended for use by poor families at Christmas time, not by Dixon herself. Dixon has pleaded not guilty to theft, embezzlement and misconduct charges in connection with the use of about 60 gift cards worth roughly $1,500, most of them from Lipscomb.
The defense argument, a highlight of the first day of testimony in the trial, appeared designed to blunt the prosecution's effort to connect the mayor to purchases made with the cards.
Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, in his opening statement to the jury, described in detail the trail of evidence painstakingly assembled by state investigators. To punctuate his argument, he slapped stacks of plastic gift cards on the edge on the jury box and unfurled paper store receipts of Dixon's purchases.
"When you are a public official, it is a breach of the public trust when you steal," Rohrbaugh said. "When you are a public servant and you steal from the needy, it is unspeakable."
Minutes later, Dixon's side seemed to sweep beyond the prosecution argument, with a new claim that Dixon thought she had a right to the use the cards for her own benefit.
The defense theory marked an abrupt shift from a previous line of argument by her attorneys, as laid out in pre-trial motions, that the mayor had used the cards in error. As late as Thursday morning, Shelly S. Glenn, a senior assistant state prosecutor, said in open court that the prosecution was anticipating an "oops defense" by the mayor, meaning that she spent the charity cards by mistake.
Lead defense attorney Arnold M. Weiner told the jury that the mayor would not dispute the fact that she used the gift cards given to her by Lipscomb and another developer. As Dixon listened, occasionally resting her chin on her hand or scribbling notes on a pad, Weiner used much of his 30-minute opening statement to disparage Lipscomb and his construction company, Doracon Contracting.
Lipscomb was romantically pursuing Dixon, said Weiner, and lavishing her with gifts, sometimes anonymously. Lipscomb attached himself to Dixon's group of friends and even followed her to Boston, Weiner said. The stacks of $50 and $25 gift cards that he gave her in 2005 and 2006 were no different from furs and designer clothes that she accepted from him, the lawyer said.
Weiner explained that another batch of gift cards she is charged with misusing, donated in December 2005 by developer Patrick Turner, had arrived at Dixon's office in a blank envelope. She assumed that they were also a gift from Lipscomb, to be used as she saw fit, her lawyer said.
"This case is not about if Sheila Dixon used gift cards," thundered Weiner. "What this is about is how they were given to her and her reasonable belief that she had a right to use them."
Lipscomb said in grand jury testimony that a staff member from Dixon's office called him requesting $25 and $50 gift cards from Best Buy, Old Navy and Giant. The $25 cards, he told the grand jury, were to go to single mothers and the $50 cards were for larger families.
The Democratic mayor has been investigated since March 2006, when she was City Council president. She was indicted in January and faces seven theft-related counts in the current trial.
If convicted of any of the charges, Dixon, 55,would have to step down as mayor and forfeit her $83,000 annual pension. She could also be fined or face jail time.
Separately, she is charged with two perjury counts for allegedly not reporting gifts from Lipscomb, who benefited from city contracts and tax credits. That trial is scheduled to begin in March.
Because prosecutors split the charges against the mayor into separate indictments, it made it possible for Dixon's attorneys to argue that she accepted the cards as gifts without also running afoul of the law that requires her to publicly disclose any gifts worth more than $50.
"It would have been much more problematic if the jury was also considering perjury counts of failure to report gifts," said David Gray, a University of Maryland law professor. "She couldn't stand up and say 'These were gifts' without putting herself on the hook for the perjury counts."
This morning, when the trial resumes, the first witness will be Randell Finney, a Doracon employee.
Prosecutors say Finney bought gift cards on Lipscomb's behalf and delivered them to a Dixon aide. On Thursday, two prosecution witnesses testified that Dixon's office had solicited and donated gift cards on behalf of the needy.
Before the jury entered the courtroom for opening statements, presiding Judge Dennis M. Sweeney rejected a prosecution request to include allegations about gift card donations from a third developer in their prosecutor's initial statement or witness testimony.
According to a prosecution filing, developer Turner, during a December 2006 vacation in the Cayman Islands, called a business partner, Glenn Charlow, to remind him that Dixon's office gives gift cards to the needy at the holidays.
Charlow gave $500 worth of Target gift cards to Dixon, believing that they would be used for her church, prosecutors said. Instead, prosecutors maintained, some of the cards were given to Dixon's staff members.
Charlow told state investigators that "he would have felt that he was cheated and that the needy families of Baltimore were cheated" if Dixon had misused them, according to notes taken Friday and submitted as part of a state motion.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors disclosed key information about the Charlow cards "at the eleventh hour" and demanded that it not be presented to the jury.
The judge agreed. But he left open the possibility that prosecutors could use Charlow to rebut any defense assertion that Dixon had mistakenly used the other gift cards.
The mayor arrived early Thursday to a courtroom packed with observers and some of her supporters. The room grew so warm that an alternate juror fainted; he later was dismissed from the case.
Dixon stepped from the courtroom during a mid-morning recess and fanned herself, saying, "It is hot in there." She smiled to acknowledge supporters from the Maryland Minority Contractors Association.
The judge released a list of 72 potential witnesses, some of them likely character witnesses.
They included powerful local politicians, community leaders and top City Hall aides. Among them: Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings; former city Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, now second in command at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Rev. Frank M. Reid of Bethel AME church, where the mayor worships; Dixon's close personal friend Edward Anthony, a city housing employee; and the mayor's daughter, Jasmine Hampton.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that former city schools CEO Bonnie Copeland is on the witness list. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
That line of defense is likely to turn the mayor's trial into a credibility contest between Dixon and developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, her former boyfriend, who is expected to testify that the cards were intended for use by poor families at Christmas time, not by Dixon herself. Dixon has pleaded not guilty to theft, embezzlement and misconduct charges in connection with the use of about 60 gift cards worth roughly $1,500, most of them from Lipscomb.
The defense argument, a highlight of the first day of testimony in the trial, appeared designed to blunt the prosecution's effort to connect the mayor to purchases made with the cards.
Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, in his opening statement to the jury, described in detail the trail of evidence painstakingly assembled by state investigators. To punctuate his argument, he slapped stacks of plastic gift cards on the edge on the jury box and unfurled paper store receipts of Dixon's purchases.
"When you are a public official, it is a breach of the public trust when you steal," Rohrbaugh said. "When you are a public servant and you steal from the needy, it is unspeakable."
Minutes later, Dixon's side seemed to sweep beyond the prosecution argument, with a new claim that Dixon thought she had a right to the use the cards for her own benefit.
The defense theory marked an abrupt shift from a previous line of argument by her attorneys, as laid out in pre-trial motions, that the mayor had used the cards in error. As late as Thursday morning, Shelly S. Glenn, a senior assistant state prosecutor, said in open court that the prosecution was anticipating an "oops defense" by the mayor, meaning that she spent the charity cards by mistake.
Lead defense attorney Arnold M. Weiner told the jury that the mayor would not dispute the fact that she used the gift cards given to her by Lipscomb and another developer. As Dixon listened, occasionally resting her chin on her hand or scribbling notes on a pad, Weiner used much of his 30-minute opening statement to disparage Lipscomb and his construction company, Doracon Contracting.
Lipscomb was romantically pursuing Dixon, said Weiner, and lavishing her with gifts, sometimes anonymously. Lipscomb attached himself to Dixon's group of friends and even followed her to Boston, Weiner said. The stacks of $50 and $25 gift cards that he gave her in 2005 and 2006 were no different from furs and designer clothes that she accepted from him, the lawyer said.
Weiner explained that another batch of gift cards she is charged with misusing, donated in December 2005 by developer Patrick Turner, had arrived at Dixon's office in a blank envelope. She assumed that they were also a gift from Lipscomb, to be used as she saw fit, her lawyer said.
"This case is not about if Sheila Dixon used gift cards," thundered Weiner. "What this is about is how they were given to her and her reasonable belief that she had a right to use them."
Lipscomb said in grand jury testimony that a staff member from Dixon's office called him requesting $25 and $50 gift cards from Best Buy, Old Navy and Giant. The $25 cards, he told the grand jury, were to go to single mothers and the $50 cards were for larger families.
The Democratic mayor has been investigated since March 2006, when she was City Council president. She was indicted in January and faces seven theft-related counts in the current trial.
If convicted of any of the charges, Dixon, 55,would have to step down as mayor and forfeit her $83,000 annual pension. She could also be fined or face jail time.
Separately, she is charged with two perjury counts for allegedly not reporting gifts from Lipscomb, who benefited from city contracts and tax credits. That trial is scheduled to begin in March.
Because prosecutors split the charges against the mayor into separate indictments, it made it possible for Dixon's attorneys to argue that she accepted the cards as gifts without also running afoul of the law that requires her to publicly disclose any gifts worth more than $50.
"It would have been much more problematic if the jury was also considering perjury counts of failure to report gifts," said David Gray, a University of Maryland law professor. "She couldn't stand up and say 'These were gifts' without putting herself on the hook for the perjury counts."
This morning, when the trial resumes, the first witness will be Randell Finney, a Doracon employee.
Prosecutors say Finney bought gift cards on Lipscomb's behalf and delivered them to a Dixon aide. On Thursday, two prosecution witnesses testified that Dixon's office had solicited and donated gift cards on behalf of the needy.
Before the jury entered the courtroom for opening statements, presiding Judge Dennis M. Sweeney rejected a prosecution request to include allegations about gift card donations from a third developer in their prosecutor's initial statement or witness testimony.
According to a prosecution filing, developer Turner, during a December 2006 vacation in the Cayman Islands, called a business partner, Glenn Charlow, to remind him that Dixon's office gives gift cards to the needy at the holidays.
Charlow gave $500 worth of Target gift cards to Dixon, believing that they would be used for her church, prosecutors said. Instead, prosecutors maintained, some of the cards were given to Dixon's staff members.
Charlow told state investigators that "he would have felt that he was cheated and that the needy families of Baltimore were cheated" if Dixon had misused them, according to notes taken Friday and submitted as part of a state motion.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors disclosed key information about the Charlow cards "at the eleventh hour" and demanded that it not be presented to the jury.
The judge agreed. But he left open the possibility that prosecutors could use Charlow to rebut any defense assertion that Dixon had mistakenly used the other gift cards.
The mayor arrived early Thursday to a courtroom packed with observers and some of her supporters. The room grew so warm that an alternate juror fainted; he later was dismissed from the case.
Dixon stepped from the courtroom during a mid-morning recess and fanned herself, saying, "It is hot in there." She smiled to acknowledge supporters from the Maryland Minority Contractors Association.
The judge released a list of 72 potential witnesses, some of them likely character witnesses.
They included powerful local politicians, community leaders and top City Hall aides. Among them: Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings; former city Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, now second in command at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Rev. Frank M. Reid of Bethel AME church, where the mayor worships; Dixon's close personal friend Edward Anthony, a city housing employee; and the mayor's daughter, Jasmine Hampton.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that former city schools CEO Bonnie Copeland is on the witness list. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
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Judge Dennis M. Sweeney is a relative of Kathleen Sweeney; a District Court Judge for Baltimore City, who is running for a seat in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. Judge Sweeney wants his RELATIVE in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and the only person that can do that is the Mayor's input to the Governor. One hand washes the other!
She will be acquitted, but will have trouble in holding a political leadership role, especially in Baltimore City because of her actions and trustworthiness.
docter423 (11/21/2009, 4:50 PM )