Under self-imposed pressure as Baltimore's first black female comptroller, Jacqueline F. McLean stole more than $25,000 because of her own destructive impulses rather than for financial gain, her lawyer plans to argue at her sentencing tomorrow.
Attorney M. Cristina Gutierrez said she has dozens of witnesses lined up, including three psychiatrists who are ready to testify that her client's thievery was "so totally out of her character" as to be an "act of desperation."
"It's important to remember Jackie McLean was the first-and-only throughout her life," Ms. Gutierrez said, noting that she was the first black woman to become a court commissioner, vice president of the Baltimore City Council and comptroller.
"To be the first-and-only and to have public scrutiny all your life, you can't make a false step," she continued. "The expectations for African-American women are always high -- their own expectations, the expectations of the community and the pressure to forge a new path even though they had no footsteps to follow. Professional women of color are far more subject to depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders."
Ms. Gutierrez compared McLean's downfall in the corruption scandal to the May 1993 suicide of John Wilson, the chairman of the Washington City Council, and to the disgrace of Richard Berendzen, the president of American University caught making harassing phone calls to women.
A decision on whether McLean should be jailed for her crimes lies in the hands of Judge Donald J. Gilmore. The retired Carroll County circuit judge was assigned to the case after a Baltimore judge stepped aside to avoid any appearance of politics influencing the case in the wake of an extraordinary meeting with a council delegation.
In September, a tearful McLean pleaded guilty to stealing $25,000 in public funds to pay off credit card bills and outstanding debts of her now defunct travel business.
She also was convicted of official misconduct despite denying she committed a crime in failing to disqualify herself from a proposed million-dollar city real-estate deal. The 50-year-old former comptroller was accused of surreptitiously trying to arrange for the city Health Department to lease the one-time headquarters of her travel agency.
State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli could recommend any punishment up to 15 years in prison, a $1,000 fine and an order to make restitution for the felony theft charge. Penalties for misconduct in office are not specified by statute. McLean's lawyer has said she will oppose any jail time for her client.
Under nonbinding sentencing guidelines, McLean, who has no prior criminal record, should receive a sentence ranging from probation to a year in jail. But Mr. Montanarelli said sentencing guidelines specifically cite white-collar theft as an aggravating factor, allowing a judge to give a stricter sentence.
As he has done since McLean was convicted, Mr. Montanarelli refused yesterday to say what sentence he will recommend. He said he will present witnesses to describe mental health services available in the state prison system, but would not say whether he will seek a jail term. Mr. Montanarelli also said McLean has repaid $26,961.57 in restitution and interest.
McLean's once-promising career unraveled last December after she arranged the city lease of the Federal Hill headquarters of Four Seas & Seven Winds Inc., the once-successful travel agency she ran with her husband, James.
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and other top city officials rescinded the lease, and the state prosecutor began an investigation.
Investigators learned that McLean had been sending checks made out to a "Michele McCloud" and a non-existent research group to her sister's hair salon in Northwest Baltimore. The checks were deposited in bank accounts set up with her daughter's Social Security number.
At the time she drew up the contracts in the fall of 1992, Four Seas & Seven Winds needed a financial bailout.
In late August 1991, USF&G; Corp. filed a $140,000 suit against the agency for failing to pay promised commission rebates. A Milwaukee landlord sued for back rent on an office. Four Seas closed other offices it could no longer afford, and the McLeans turned for help to the Development Credit Fund Inc., a community lender for minority businesses.
The McLeans pledged all their assets for a $750,000 loan, and sold their home in Guilford for $365,000 to buy a three-story condominium in the Colonnade for $215,000. They also put their beach condominium in Delaware on the market.
Still, they faced debts, including $112,000 to the airlines and $200,000 in employee withholding taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service. In the fall of 1993, after the IRS filed two liens against the company, the McLeans sold the business.
A month later, the Development Credit Fund foreclosed.
But Ms. Gutierrez said she plans to demonstrate that the McLeans were up-to-date on their payments of the loan. More than half the principal had been repaid and by the end of the year, the couple satisfied the entire loan without selling the headquarters, she said.
"Our clear argument is that contrary to the state's assertion, there was no financial motive or dire financial need," she said.
"It's an interesting theory," said Mr. Montanarelli. He declined yesterday to discuss McLean's finances, saying only that he had fully investigated them.