A jury convicted Mayor Sheila Dixon on Tuesday on one count of embezzlement for stealing gift cards meant for poor residents, but it acquitted her of three other charges, including the most serious felony theft charge. Ms. Dixon, whose conviction may force her from office, faced five theft-related charges, and the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision concerning one of them, prompting the state prosecutor to say he was undecided on whether to refile that charge.
"The city will still continue to move forward," Ms. Dixon said as she left the courtroom, adding that she was headed to City Hall to get back to work.
| "The city will still continue to move forward," Ms. Dixon said as she left the courtroom, adding that she was headed to City Hall to get back to work. Under state law, Ms. Dixon is supposed to be suspended from office after sentencing. But her lawyers have said they plan to file post-trial motions and possibly appeal the verdict. |
She still faces a trial in March on two perjury counts stemming from an accusation that she failed to report gifts.
Under state law, Ms. Dixon is supposed to be suspended from office after sentencing. But before that happens, her lawyers have said they plan to file post-trial motions and possibly appeal the verdict. If those efforts fail, Ms. Dixon will probably be forced from office and the City Council president, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, would succeed her.
The misdemeanor charge carries a minimum sentence of a year, but it is not clear if the prosecutor will seek jail time. Even then, the judge could suspend that sentence in lieu of probationary conditions.
"It's a sad day for Baltimore," Robert A. Rohrbaugh, the state prosecutor, said before commending the jury for its work. .
Ms. Dixon initially faced seven charges of theft, misappropriation of fiduciary duty and misconduct in office. Prosecutors said that she stole around $1,500 worth of gift cards meant for needy families and that were donated by developers, including Ronald H. Lipscomb, whom Ms. Dixon dated in 2003 and 2004. Ms. Dixon was accused of using the cards to buy herself items at Target, Toys "R" Us, Old Navy and Best Buy -- including, according to court documents, a PlayStation 2, a digital camcorder, DVDs and CDs.
| The defense portrayed Ms. Dixon as an honest and hard-working woman of faith who made a simple mistake in using gift cards she believed had been given to her as anonymous personal gifts. |
Throughout the trial, public reaction has tended toward two extremes. On the one hand, Baltimore residents voiced a sense of outrage that the mayor would steal from children and the needy. On the other hand, some residents expressed frustration that the prosecutor's office was wasting time and money on minor offenses.
Some residents viewed the trial as politically or racially motivated. Ms. Dixon, who is black and was born and raised in West Baltimore, is a Democrat who leads a majority-black, deeply Democratic city. Mr. Rohrbaugh is a white Republican.
On the trial's second day, prosecutors rested their case without calling their key witness, Mr. Lipscomb, to the stand. As a result, Judge Dennis M. Sweeney of Circuit Court ruled that there was not enough evidence to proceed with two of the theft-related charges.
As theater, the case was a letdown. By failing to call the mayor's former boyfriend to the stand, prosecutors deprived the news media and the courtroom audience of the spectacle of ex-lovers turning on each other.
Still, the trial had its moments. Arnold M. Weiner, a defense lawyer, drew applause during closing arguments as he mocked the state's case as a thin web of reckless fabrications and little more than a "sound and light show."
| It was not contested, for example, that Ms. Dixon called a developer and asked him to donate gift cards for her to give to city children -- cards that the mayor later used for her personal benefit. It was also not contested that Ms. Dixon gave one of the donated cards to Mary Pat Fannon, a lobbyist for the city whose household income tops $500,000 or that another city official took a donated card meant for needy families and used it to buy himself a Nintendo Wii. |
It was not contested, for example, that Ms. Dixon called a developer and asked him to donate gift cards for her to give to city children -- cards that the mayor later used for her personal benefit. It was also not contested that Ms. Dixon gave one of the donated cards to Mary Pat Fannon, a lobbyist for the city whose household income tops $500,000 or that another city official took a donated card meant for needy families and used it to buy himself a Nintendo Wii.
"True, this trial hasn't been Sheila Dixon's finest hour, but neither did it reveal rampant venality," said Andrew D. Levy, a law professor at the University of Maryland. "Mostly, it displayed a tone deafness to ethical issues -- such as the cozy relationship between developers and local politicians -- that most people have become pretty inured to."
At times, Judge Sweeney seemed unconvinced by Ms. Dixon's lawyers, who argued that she accidentally spent the gift cards given to her because she believed they were all meant as personal gifts.
"Your theory is, gift cards are just flowing in," Judge Sweeney said in declining to grant a defense motion to throw out the entire case. "There are so many flowing in? They are just swimming in gift cards?
"There are not enough poor children to give them to?" Judge Sweeney later said.
Shelly S. Glenn, the senior assistant state prosecutor, tried to reinforce this skepticism among jurors. Pointing at Ms. Dixon across the courtroom during closing arguments, Ms. Glenn said, "This woman did not get this far in life if she could be so easily confused."