The jury of nine women and three men selected for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's criminal theft trial will begin work Thursday morning, but first a judge will weigh new allegations involving another batch of gift cards said to have been donated by a developer not previously named in the case.Two city developers, Patrick Turner and Ronald H. Lipscomb, have been identified as potential witnesses in the mayor's theft case, and a defense motion filed Tuesday reveals that prosecutors want a third developer to testify. The mayor is accused of buying personal items with at least $1,500 in retail gift cards donated to her office for use by needy families.
The newly named developer, Glenn Charlow, donated gift cards to Dixon to be used "in connection with her church activities," according to papers filed in court by the mayor's lawyers in an effort to block his testimony. There are no details about how State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh believes the gift cards were used, or how much money may have been involved.
Dixon's attorneys object to the anticipated new testimony because, they say, prosecutors interviewed Charlow in June 2008 but did not disclose key information until Friday, on the eve of the trial.
Judge Dennis M. Sweeney said he will take up at least some of the numerous pretrial motions before jurors arrive in the downtown courtroom Thursday morning. Courts are closed today for Veterans Day.
The 12 jurors and six alternates - nearly three-quarters of whom are black - "certainly speaks to Baltimore City's demographics," said Douglas Colbert, a University of Maryland law professor who observed jury selection. "I would expect that both sides feel very satisfied with that."
No information about the jurors or alternates, including their names, ages or racial identities, has been made public, making it impossible to ascertain the precise demographic makeup of the panel that will decide the mayor's fate.
The jury appeared to be composed of five black women, two black men, two white women, one white man, one Asian woman and one woman whose ethnicity was unclear. The alternates include three black men and three black women.
Dixon, 55, faces seven theft-related counts in this trial and also is scheduled to stand trial in March on perjury charges. In that case, she is accused of failing to disclose gifts from Lipscomb, her former boyfriend. At the time, she was City Council president and Lipscomb was doing business with the city. If convicted on any charge in either case, Dixon would have to step down and would lose her $83,000 annual pension. She also could face a fine or jail time.