After an extraordinary meeting between several members of the Baltimore City Council and two administrative judges, Baltimore Comptroller Jacqueline F. McLean's trial on theft and misconduct charges was postponed yesterday.
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering, which the trial judge in the case described as "rotten," came just hours after Mrs. McLean was involuntary committed as a state mental patient.
"I wouldn't be yakking about it like this, but to me this is so utterly appalling," Baltimore Circuit Judge Elsbeth L. Bothe said in an interview. "I hope people appreciate how wrong it is."
The comptroller was taken to a hospital emergency room in handcuffs early yesterday after threatening to commit suicide. She told her psychiatrist, "Let me be judged by God. At least he won't be biased and maybe will forgive me," according to commitment papers made available to The Sun.
Several City Council members met around noon with Joseph H. H. Kaplan, administrative judge of the Baltimore Circuit Court, and Joseph P. McCurdy Jr., the judge in charge of the court's criminal docket, the judges acknowledged. The meeting took place in Judge Kaplan's chambers after Mrs. McLean's commitment forced a delay in the scheduled start of her trial. Later, Mrs. McLean's lawyers got from Judge McCurdy what they had been seeking for weeks -- a postponement in the trial until at least September.
Mrs. McLean, who is on unpaid leave from her duties as comptroller, has been charged with stealing more than $25,000 in public funds and trying to arrange for a $1 million city lease of the former headquarters of her travel agency. Mrs. McLean, who attempted suicide in April, has been hospitalized for depression for nearly five months.
Judge McCurdy and Mrs. McLean's lawyer defended the meeting as proper. But other judges -- and some members of the City Council -- sharply criticized it and said it had the appearance of a political power play.
"I think it's highly inappropriate," said Councilman Martin O'Malley, D-3rd. "These are the same people who very rightly lecture us on not talking about the comptroller, and now they go and insert themselves in the legal process. That's deplorable."
Among those at the meeting was Vera P. Hall, council vice president and the head of the Maryland Democratic Party, Judge McCurdy said. The other four council members present were: Carl Stokes, D-2nd; Melvin L. Stukes, D-6th; Sheila Dixon, D-4th; and Iris G. Reeves, D-5th.
Judge Kaplan refused to identify participants, but acknowledged that at least five council members were present at the meeting. ** Three of the five council members denied having any discussions about Mrs. McLean's emotional state or the case in general with the judges. In an apparent contradiction of Judge McCurdy's account, Councilwomen Hall, Reeves and Dixon said they had met only with the comptroller's lawyers.
Mrs. Hall said the group had gone to the courthouse to discuss some housing job classifications with the city's personnel director. On their way out, she said, they ran into William H. Murphy Jr., one of the McLean lawyers, near the courtroom.
The councilwomen began inquiring about Mrs. McLean's health, then moved into Judge Kaplan's chambers to continue talking, Mrs. Hall said.
But, Councilwoman Dixon maintained that the group of women never left the hallway.
Mrs. Hall said the three women met with Mrs. McLean's lawyers to express concern about the comptroller's suffering amid highly publicized court hearings. Mrs. Hall said she noticed a couple of judges in the hall but only briefly exchanged greetings with them. One of them was Judge Kaplan, who invited the group to use his chambers to have a private discussion with Mr. Murphy and M. Cristina Gutierrez, another McLean lawyer, she said.
"We were concerned that Jackie is being forgotten in this process," Mrs. Hall said. "What I've been saying all the time is that Jackie is by all intents and purposes a person who is in deep, deep trouble. We were concerned about what is the hurry if this woman is as fragile as it appears."
Asked why Judge Bothe commented publicly that there had been undue influence by prominent city officials, Mrs. Hall said, "I don't know what she's talking about." Told that Judge McCurdy said she had been there, Mrs. Hall declined further comment. "It's too complicated for me to say anything and to say it right."
Councilwoman Reeves denied that either Mr. Stokes or Mr. Stukes had been present during the discussion with Mrs. McLean's attorneys. Asked if she had spoken about the McLean case to any judge, Mrs. Reeves said simply, "No." When she was then told that Judge McCurdy had confirmed that such a meeting had occurred, she said, "The attorneys met with Reeves, Hall and Dixon. That's it."
Councilman Stukes did not return a page and a telephone call to his home. Councilman Stokes said, "I'm not talking."
The prosecutor in the case, Stephen Montanarelli, did not criticize the meeting. "I believe that they were concerned that Jacqueline McLean was being treated differently than other defendants and they voiced their concerns. That's their right to do so. As far as I'm concerned, the action that was taken was legal."
But Judge Bothe, who had been assigned to preside over the trial, took to the bench yesterday to complain that "certain prominent citizens of the community" had applied pressure to gain a postponement for Mrs. McLean.
"The case has apparently been maneuvered out of my hands," the judge said. Later, in an interview, she called it a bad precedent.
"I didn't know [Judge Kaplan] was going to allow them to tell him what to do -- and behind my back, at that," Judge Bothe said.
In defending the meeting as proper, Judge McCurdy said the politicians had made no specific requests.
"They expressed their distress and their concern about the divisive effect this was having on the community," he said. "People were confused and upset about the circus-like atmosphere. It was very painful for them -- and, I'll be frank, it was painful for me, too, because it has just gotten out of hand.
"That got through to me. This is hurtful to the community. Most people have had somebody in their family who has sinned. To see somebody just decimated by the process, it's just so hurtful to the community."
Judge Kaplan would not comment.
Ms. Gutierrez said the meeting was simply a chance for Mrs. McLean's colleagues to express their concern about the way the case has been handled.
"To suggest that somehow something was wrong or backhanded is offensive to us," Ms. Gutierrez said. Reacting to Judge Bothe's comments, she said, "I'm appalled that she would take pot shots at reputable members of the community who might not agree Mrs. McLean's case was handled as an ordinary course of business."
L Yesterday's events capped a tumultuous week for Mrs. McLean.
On Monday, Judge McCurdy ruled the 50-year-old comptroller competent to stand trial and refused to grant a three-month postponement to allow her to receive more psychiatric treatment.
On Wednesday, the scheduled starting date for the trial, Judge Bothe and Mr. Murphy bickered over several issues -- including Mr. Murphy's demand that the judge disqualify herself from the case.
That afternoon, Mrs. McLean was rushed out of the courtroom after suffering what her lawyers termed a "panic attack." Thursday night, after a seven-hour hearing, Judge Bothe turned down the defense's second attempt to delay the trial and ordered that it begin the following morning.
Yesterday morning, Mrs. McLean told her psychiatrist that she wanted to kill herself, adding, "Why do you keep wanting to save me? I'm not worth saving," according to the commitment papers.
The psychiatrist, Dennis Kutzer, then decided that she should be involuntarily committed, and police took her to the emergency room at St. Josephs Hospital in Towson.
The officer who took her to the hospital described Mrs. McLean as "quiet" during the brief ride.
Under Maryland law, a person may be admitted for an emergency evaluation if a licensed physician determines that the person is in danger of killing himself or herself or hurting someone else.
The person is taken to an emergency facility and examined by two licensed physicians or a licensed physician and a licensed psychologist, who would have to certify that the person is a danger and should be admitted. A judge must review the decision within five working days.
Around noon yesterday, Mrs.McLean was transferred from St. Joseph's to a locked ward at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Ms. Gutierrez said.
Meanwhile, the council members were leaving Judge Kaplan's chambers, soon to be replaced by the lawyers in the McLean case.
"We wanted the lawyers to know they really should try to resolve this. Judge Kaplan was impressing that upon them," Judge McCurdy said.
The matter of judicial propriety is delicate, and some lawyers and judges were not willing to discuss the circumstances of the McLean delay if their names would be used.
One person with judicial experience, who asked not to be identified, said the council members' meeting with Judge Kaplan "has all the appearance of political influence being brought to bear on the judiciary, a dangerous precedent."
"They're not party to this case," he said of the council members.
"They're not doctors. They're not officers of the court. It's a very dangerous precedent. I have never heard of this before."
Judge Robert C. Murphy, chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, had not heard of the developments in the McLean case until a reporter called him. "It is unusual," he said.
"It's unusual, certainly, for five councilmen to go to a judge. But there may be circumstances I'm not able to appreciate. I'm going to be very guarded in what I say."
The council members' entry into the McLean controversy could raise questions of a conflict of interest: The City Council approves the Circuit Court's operating budget. And Judge Kaplan is running for re-election this year.
Other city elected officials criticized the meeting.
Said Councilman Joseph J. DiBlasi, a 6th District Democrat, "That's something I wouldn't have done. It's unusual to say the least."
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said through his spokesman that he was unaware of the meeting and had not spoken with Mrs. McLean's defense lawyers, the judge or the prosecutor.