DESPITE HER PLIGHT, DIXON PAUSES ON WAY TO SENTENCING
TO HELP CITIZEN WHO PASSES HER IN COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR
By Alan Z. Forman
Former Mayor Sheila Dixon's final moments in office Thursday morning were a study in contrasts.
En route at the Mitchell Courthouse to be sentenced for gift-card misappropriation and perjury, the soon to be former mayor paused to help a citizen in need who happened to pass her in the hallway.
The person was in the building, called to drug court, said Scott Peterson, the mayor’s outgoing chief spokesperson, and needed guidance regarding city services that attempt to prevent recidivism in drug-related cases.
Despite the fact she was about to lose her job and reputation, leaving office in what the judge in her corruption trial would describe as “total disgrace,” Dixon took time out, Peterson said, to introduce the man to Cynthia Jackson of Baltimore Rising, the quasi-governmental agency that helps former criminals reenter society, who was in her entourage.
It was what the mayor’s admirers would describe as “Sheila being Sheila,” selflessly helping one of Baltimore’s citizens in need, despite having been brought down for actions — misappropriation of gift cards meant for the needy — that would seem contrary to such sentiment.
LEAVES OFFICE 'IN TOTAL DISGRACE'
Minutes later however the mayor would hear Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney tell a crowded courtroom that “simply put, Ms. Dixon leaves … office in total disgrace” following a career that enabled her to become the first woman to hold Baltimore’s highest elected position.
“That result in this court’s view is a heavy penalty, well justified by the evidence before this court,” the judge declared, “but still a heavy penalty — a badge of dishonor that she will live with for the rest of her life.”
As part of a plea bargain with prosecutors, approved by Judge Sweeney, Dixon will perform 500 hours’ community service over a four-year unsupervised probationary period and contribute $45,000 to charity, upon completion of which her conviction on one count of misappropriation of gift cards meant for the poor and her guilty plea to one of two counts of perjury will be wiped clean and she will have no criminal record, thereby enabling her to run for office again as early as two years from now, should she choose to do so.
As such, the judge granted her probation before judgment and the chief state prosecutor, Robert A. Rohrbaugh, agreed to nol-pros the remaining criminal counts against her.
Asked by Sweeney if she had any comment, Dixon replied quietly: “No, your honor. Thank you.”
To the question, “Does the defendant accept these dispositions?” she answered simply, “Yes.”
Earlier this week Rohrbaugh, in the state’s sentencing memorandum, harshly — and surprisingly — attacked Dixon for what he termed her “defiant arrogance” in suggesting the people of Baltimore should be willing to accept “some corruption from their political leaders.
“While it has been difficult for everyone, including the prosecution team, to swallow the fact that this defendant will receive a substantial, life-long pension from the people of Baltimore,” the memorandum states, “the alternative to accepting the plea agreement was equally, or more, unattractive.
“Continued litigation would have cost the taxpayers substantial sums,” possibly as much as $1 million or more.
Contained in the plea agreement is a provision to allow Dixon to keep her $83,000 annual pension for life.
Terming the trial a “painful and dispiriting episode,” the judge emphasized in his remarks that he hoped the city would change its way of doing business in the wake of Dixon’s downfall.
ETHICAL MILIEU OF THE PAST
“It seems from reports in the media,” he said, “that Ms. Dixon’s successor and the City Council now understand the ethical milieu of the past particularly as it relates to relationships with developers can not continue and that there must be a rededication to the principles of high ethical standards and performance by public officials.”
Sweeney added that he hopes “the new and welcomed dedication to higher ethical standards is genuine and will have a shelf life that lasts beyond the next election. If not, then the City will be doomed to repeat the cycle of petty and tawdry corruption and special entitlement that ends badly not only for the people directly involved but more importantly for the citizens of Baltimore that depend on fair and honest governance by its officials.”
Referring to Dixon's claims that the prosecution was “not well grounded in law and evidence and that her problems were the fault of the media, or a politically motivated or incompetent prosecutor, or .... a confused and misbehaving jury,” he said in his opinion “the cases against Ms. Dixon were strong if not indeed overwhelming” and that “the jury was generous to Ms. Dixon in convicting her of only a single count,” adding that had the perjury case gone to trial, “conviction on one or more counts would have been a virtual certainty” — despite what he suggested was Dixon's determination “in her own mind and for her own purposes” to persist “in her belief that she was unfairly prosecuted on flimsy evidence.
“However, that view simply does not stack up with the facts.”
In conclusion, praising the jury for its hard work and dedication, Sweeney said he hopes “that the jurors understand that they performed a very valuable public service under difficult circumstances.
“It would be unfair and wrong to close these proceedings leaving any impression that the jury in this case did anything other than perform extraordinary services under very stressful circumstances.”
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