Baltimore-Jurors in the theft trial of Sheila Dixon convicted the Baltimore mayor Tuesday on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city’s poor. The jury convicted her on one count of fraudulent misappropriation and acquitted her on two counts of felony theft and one count of misconduct in office. Jurors failed to reach verdict on another count of fraudulent misappropriation.
“The city will still continue to move forward and stay focused. I know my cabinet and staff will continue to be committed [to this city],” Dixon said in a news conference outside the court.
Dixon is now heading back to City Hall. Several meetings are going on there to figure out the next step. Right now, no members of the media are allowed in City Hall
State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh is satisfied with the verdict and says his team will consider re-trying her on other charges.
“It’s a sad for the citizens of Baltimore when a city mayor is convicted,” said Rohrbaugh.
“This is a sad day for the people of Baltimore and Mayor Dixon personally. It is more important than ever, during this difficult time, that everyone who cares about Baltimore stays focused on reducing crime in our neighborhoods, improving our schools, creating jobs and otherwise serving the people who live and work in Baltimore,” Governor Martin O’Malley said in a statement.
City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is in line to be elevated to the mayor’s office after Mayor Sheila Dixon’s conviction, says she is focusing on her job.
Rawlings-Blake said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that it is a “difficult and sad day for Baltimore.”
She said she was making sure that public safety and essential public services are maintained. The city is current tackling the budget crisis. The council president also urged respect for the legal process.
“It’s a great loss if we have [lost Sheila Dixon as mayor]. I understand that the mayor has said the city will go on and of course, the city will go on. She has brought a lot of brightness to it and I am a very sad person,” said Mary Pat Clarke, city councilmember.
Jurors deliberated more than six days after hearing testimony that accused Dixon of using or keeping $630 worth of gift cards.
She was accused of soliciting most of the cards from developer Patrick Turner and then buying electronics at Best Buy, clothes at Old Navy and knickknacks at Target.
The first two counts that were considered by jury were counts one and four. They deal with theft and misappropriation for gift cards donated by developer Patrick Turner. She was found guilty of count 4, which was embezzlement.
Counts three and six dealt with theft and misappropriation for gift cards taken from the city housing department. Count seven was misconduct in office. Out of all the counts, the mayor could only be found guilty of three of them because of the way the law is written. The most serious count was count one, which is felony theft. She faced up to 15 years in jail and a $25,000 fine. Counts two and five were dismissed earlier in the trial.
The jury began deliberating 9:08 a.m. Tuesday. They bypassed the courtroom and went straight into the jury room.
At 9:20 a.m., Judge Dennis Sweeney received a note from the jury. The note, written by Juror #11, asked if the jurors need to be unanimous on all five counts. Judge Dennis Sweeney instructed jurors that to reach a verdict on any count they must be unanimous on that count, but acknowledged that they may not reach verdicts on some counts. Sweeney said that if they had reached a verdict on any count, they should inform the court. He also told them to refer to page 2 on jury instructions. That page talks about individual jurors sticking to their convictions and not being influenced by other members of the jury. He then sent the jury back to continue deliberations.
“My concern…they may be thinking there is no way out. There is no exit. That is, of course, not the case,” Sweeney said.
Juror #11 wrote the letter to see if it had to be unanimous.
“We had a lot of things we had to agree on,” she said. “There was a lot of confusion in the beginning on my part. I’m not a lawyer. Even with our packets and the definitions, there were words within those definitions that had to be broken down.”
She said it was emotional.
“I can only speak for myself and I have had my ups and downs and there were times I was pretty emotional,” she said. “I did do a very good job of staying away from the media. I have a family at home so that kept me occupied.”
Juror #11 said things changed over time in the jury room.
“There’s times when everything was one thing and then changed based on deliberations. They were all over the place at any given time. We were in progress every single day,” she said.
The jury also sent the judge a note Monday that said they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on all counts. Seconds later, they sent a note to the judge asking to come back for a seventh day of deliberations because new things “have come to light.”
“The jury, within a short period of time, announced that they seem not to be able to reach a verdict. Then, shortly thereafter, sent the last note, which indicates they want to make one final try,” said Arnold Weiner, Dixon’s defense attorney.
Dixon’s lawyers blamed the case on developer Ronald Lipscomb, a married man whom they said lavished her with gifts, including gift cards sent anonymously, as he pursued her romantically. Dixon thought gift cards delivered anonymously by another developer also came from Lipscomb, the defense argued.
Dixon’s defense team called just four witnesses, including the mayor’s pastor and a florist who testified about an anonymous, $285 bouquet sent by Lipscomb. Her attorneys argued she thought some of the gift cards were intended as personal gifts, while others, found in her home, were forgotten leftovers from a charity event.
Her conviction could force her suspension from office upon sentencing, followed by removal if she loses all appeals. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is in line to be elevated to the mayor’s office, and remaining council members would pick a new president.
Dixon, 55, has been under the cloud of the City Hall corruption probe for nearly four years, since she was City Council president. She was indicted in January. Still, she remains popular in Maryland’s largest city of about 630,000 residents.
