The other defendants, hands cuffed behind their backs, filed into the courtroom and piled into the first row of benches. The same scene no doubt plays out most days of the week in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse - young men, waiting to face a judge on criminal charges, have final conversations with lawyers who crouch next to them and crane their necks to nod at family or friends who have come to see them.

But one defendant stood apart, literally, in Courtroom 226 yesterday morning: Mildred E. Boyer, poised and uncuffed at the defense table.

After multiple delays, the trial of a mysterious but central figure in a contractor scandal at City Hall was scheduled to start yesterday. Finally, the owner of the company that had hired the sister of then-City Council President Sheila Dixon and subsequently won lucrative city contracts, would have her day in open court.

Of course, as these things tend to play out, most of the interesting stuff still happened offstage.

For one thing, the charges Boyer was facing weren't connected to the awarding of those city contracts to her company, Union Technologies, or Utech. Rather, they stemmed from what prosecutors said was a scheme in which she received a private loan by faking business documents with the city, according to prosecutors, and using the money instead to buy a house.

And for another, the trial was pre-empted by a plea deal: Boyer agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax return; the more serious charges against her, for counterfeiting and fraud, would be dropped; a two-year jail sentence would be suspended in favor of five years of probation, and in return she would - wait for it - "cooperate fully" with prosecutors who have been investigating City Hall spending.

So we may be getting somewhere, finally.

It has been two years, after all, since The Sun revealed that Dixon voted to award contracts to Utech - which was listed as a subcontractor to a company that provided IT services to the city - despite the apparent conflict of interest posed by the fact that her sister, Janice Dixon, worked for the company.

Since then, Boyer was indicted in connection with the loan case, but Dixon noted that the charges had nothing to do with her. And while a city board launched an investigation into a possible ethical violation by Dixon, it concluded its probe without taking action against the mayor.

And yet, state prosecutors continue their investigation, apparently targeting associates of the mayor: In August, the state indicted Dixon's former campaign manager, Dale Clark, on a charge of failing to file state income tax returns for several of the years during which he worked without a contract as a computer consultant to the City Council. Clark pleaded guilty and agreed to also "cooperate fully" with investigators. And in November, they raided the offices of Doracon Contracting, for which Dixon admitted twisting some arms to help on development project. A project for which Doracon, you may recall, hired as one of its subcontractors a company called - wait for it - Utech.

All very cozy, no? And yet, so far, all we have for sure is a couple of guilty pleas related to personal income tax filings. Presumably the fruits of all that full cooperation will come later; the deal with Boyer stipulates that she provide "truthful and complete information concerning her activities and those of other Baltimore city officials, employees, contractors, consultants, and subcontractors."

The famously tight-lipped state prosecutor's office would not specify what kind of information it expected to receive for its end of the deal. Yesterday, the 42-year-old Boyer was equally taciturn, saying little in the courtroom and nothing outside it. Her lawyers would say after the proceeding only that Boyer agreed to the plea deal to "avoid the unpleasantness of trial," that she had hired Janice Dixon "for her talents and to help her business" and that she had "no relationship" to that other Dixon.

Boyer will serve 500 hours of community service in the city or county schools, "using her unique talents," Circuit Judge Timothy Doory said, although he did not specify what those might be.

Doory, as is standard with plea agreements, repeatedly asked whether Boyer was freely entering into the deal and if she understood its ramifications. Yes, and yes. He instructed her to register with the parole and probation office, and with community service officials about those 500 hours she must complete by Jan. 13, 2013.

Then he dispatched her with an optimistic judge's farewell, "I trust we shall not meet again."

Hmm, speak for yourself. As for me, I anxiously await hearing more from Boyer.

jean.marbella@baltsun.com