I guess we can forgive Gregg L. Bernstein for anticipating a packed audience for his ceremonial swearing-in on Tuesday as the city's new state's attorney  -- the official one was Monday. He scanned the audience inside the grand ceremonial courtroom at the Mitchell Courthouse and proclaimed:

"What a crowd!"

It wasn't an impromptu remark. When we got a text of his speech, we discovered the crowd line had been scripted in. But it turned out to be correct -- he did play to a packed audience -- and that seems to befit the high expectations that with Bernstein the top prosecutor and Frederick H. Bealefeld III the top cop, something will change for the better in Baltimore.

(Bernstein is shown at left with his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, announcing his election victory. The picture is by The Sun's Lloyd Fox).

No doubt police and prosecutors will cooperate more and agree on a crime fighting strategy. Bernstein spent hours in a patrol car with Bealefeld in the opening hours of New Year's and saw first-hand how the city is policed. Bealefeld supported Bernstein from the start, and during the ride he called the prosecutor "the new sheriff in town."

In his remarks Tuesday, Bernstein said:

Continue reading "Bernstein takes over, announces agenda" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore's top cop and about to be top prosecutor hit the streets early Saturday to survey the crime scene. They found little, which in their world couldn't be better news.

This was the upcoming State's Attorney's Gregg Bernstein's second ride with cops and he got a slow night, though he did see a few traffic stop and ran into a house where a man had been hit over the head with a glass bottle. He missed double stabbings in Curtis Bay and downtown, but experienced a night of unusually slow crime and even lower crowds for the all night party.

"There are more cops than people," Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III noted about 30 minutes after the fireworks had ended, as he walked the Inner Harbor's waterfront walkway. In police parlance, it's simply "the bricks."

The photo-op of the night?

Bealefeld and Bernstein pushing a broken-down car out of an intersection on East Madison Street.

It's certainly valuable for the incoming top prosecutor to get a feel for the streets and the cops, but Bernstein enjoys a close bond with Bealefeld, who took the unusual step of openly campaigning for him to unseat the sitting state's attorney.

Also in the car was Bernstein's wife, Sheryl Goldstein, who runs the mayor's crime office.

Bernstein didn't get too much crime to prosecute in the opening hours of 2011, But soon he'll be pouring over the files of these very same officers, deciding what and how and whether to prosecute the people they're locking up on nights like this.

As for Bealefeld, he's hoping for more nights this.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Downtown, East Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

UPDATE: Here's an updated story from Sun reporter Scott Calvert. 

We'll have a full report a bit later, but incoming State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein announced today two new hires for his front office, news that comes a few weeks after word spread that he had informed key members of Patricia Jessamy's staff that they will not be part of his administration.

The new hires are George Hazel, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Baltimore office, and Elizabeth Embry, a former city prosecutor who has been wearing a number of hats in city government recently, including chairing the city's Sexual Assault Response Team while Bernstein's wife, Sheryl Goldstein, was on leave during the campaign.

"George and Elizabeth share my vision to restructure the State's Attorney's Office to focus on the prosecution and conviction of violent offenders and improve training, technology and cooperation with law enforcement," Bernstein said in a statement. "I look forward to beginning our work together to make Baltimore a safer city and get violent criminals off our streets. Both George and Elizabeth have the background and experience necessary to achieve these goals."

Bernstein takes office Jan. 3. Among those not returning are Jessamy's deputies Haven Kodeck and Cynthia Jones, as well as spokespeople Joseph Sviatko and Margaret Burns, who was also a top aide and had been a lightning rod for criticism over the years. Sources say other key members of the state's attorney's office will be retiring in the coming weeks, leaving more holes for Bernstein to plug.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

The real drama in the race for Baltimore State's Attorney ended in the primary, when Gregg Bernstein defeated incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy in a contentious race. Tuesday's general election was forgone conclusion; Bernstein was unopposed.

He's at left with his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, giving his victory speech. The photo was taken by The Sun's Lloyd Fox.

So the only question left is what he's going to do once he takes over. Baltimore Sun courts reporter Tricia Bishop brings us a preview today:

Bernstein has spent the past several weeks winding down his private practice as a defense attorney, which is how he has spent most of his legal career, and meeting with deputies and division chiefs from the state's attorney's office, to better understand and evaluate their operations.

That changes this week. Bernstein plans to meet with the office of 400 employees, roughly half of them prosecutors, and to examine financial information that has been unavailable until now, in preparation for his January inauguration.

He won't go so far as to say the office needs a complete overhaul — what it needs, he says, is a "new organizational structure" designed to "more effectively target and convict violent repeat offenders."

That means some people will lose their jobs, many others won't and everyone will be subject to professional training, Bernstein said. Employees will finally get voice mail on their phones and BlackBerries in their pockets, he added.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Race was a theme in the Democratic primary election for Baltimore's top prosecutor, which pit a white upstart against a veteran black state's attorney.

Many pundits speculated that the vote would fall along racial lines, with white residents drawn to Gregg Bernstein's tough on crime message and blacks attracted to Patricia C. Jessamy's call for social programs alongside prosecutions.

But The Baltimore Sun's Tricia Bishop reports that an analysis by the newspaper -- full coverage here -- shows a different conclusion.

Political newcomer Gregg Bernstein garnered support across racial boundaries to unseat a longtime incumbent in this year's contentious — and close — primary election for Baltimore state's attorney, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of precinct-level data released this week.

Bernstein, a white defense attorney who campaigned on a tough-on-crime message, earned most of the city's white vote, particularly in areas like Canton, where he had wide support. Yet figures show he also took a significant portion of the black vote — from as many as one in three voters in some of the city's most heavily black neighborhoods — as he defeated fellow Democrat Patricia C. Jessamy, who's been Baltimore's top prosecutor for 15 years.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, State's Attorney Campaign
        

"No one could have better support from a family than I have had from mine," she said.

As The Sun's Tricia Bishop works on a story for tomorrow's paper, here's some reaction:

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a statement:

"Throughout the primary campaign season, I have always said that I’m deeply committed to working with the State’s Attorney’s Office to reduce violent crime.  I congratulate Mr. Gregg Bernstein and look forward to working with the State’s Attorney’s Office and our partners in law enforcement to improve public safety for the citizens of Baltimore. I thank State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy for her many years of public service and for her dedication and hard work in the community."

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III:

"The city has a debt of gratitude for Mrs. Jessamy's long service. It's been an incredible service to the city of Baltimore. There is no doubt that she dedicated her soul to her job. There is no doubt. With that being said, I'm excited now to move forward and do the work of the people of Baltimore, and that's figure out how to leverage these partnerships to make everybody safer.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Join Justin Fenton at 12:30 p.m. for a live chat. Topics we'll cover include yesterday's shootings at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the hotly contested race for city state's attorney between Patricia C. Jessamy and Gregg Bernstein. Though the chat doesn't begin until 12:30 p.m., you can ask questions now by clicking on our chat interface below.

Posted by Carla Correa at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, East Baltimore, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy will concede her race this afternoon to her primary opponent Gregg Bernstein, according to a source with direct knowledge of her plans. Jessamy has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. at her campaign headquarters.

Up until this morning, it appeared that Jessamy was getting ready to challenge the voting process even as absentee ballots are being counted. Thursday night, the elections board had counted about 75 percent of those votes.

Bernstein was ahead by 1,363 votes, with more than 2,000 ballots still to be counted.

Jessamy's spokeswoman had alleged that thousands of votes might be missing and her legal team appeared to be gearing up for a challenge. We'll what happens in 90 minutes. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Breaking news, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Kurt L. Schmoke, the former Baltimore mayor and state's attorney, has suggested in a newspaper article that Gregg Bernstein enlisted little-known Sheryl Lansey as a candidate to divide the African-American vote.

"At the beginning of the campaign what I saw was a white male challenger and then, oops, the last day of filing, they find a black woman," Schmoke was quoted as saying in the Gazette newspapers.

That's laughable to Lansey, who told Sun reporter Yeganeh June Torbati "if someone was paying me, I never got the check." In fact, she said Jessamy supporters suggested that if she would drop out, they would help her in a future run for City Council. Lansey said she had no interest in that position, and rejected the idea.

Others came, offering her nothing but asking her to give up nonetheless. She shrugged them off, too.

"These folks just say — get out, and see ya!" Lansey said, laughing.

Lansey, 63, said she ran for the office because she believes the Baltimore criminal justice system is "kind of broken," and thought her 10 years as a District Court administrator equipped her to make improvements. Her campaign slogan, printed on the blue brochure summarizing her experience and qualifications, is "The system CAN work again."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, behind in the ballot count to challenger Gregg Bernstein by 1,350 votes, is scrutinizing the voting process and demanding lists of machines and copies of written procedures for transporting information from polling places to the elections board.

At the moment, one of her legal teams members, Larry Gibson, is careful to say that Jessamy is not making any accusations but merely wants to cover all her bases as absentee ballots are counted. The day before, Jessamy's spokeswoman, Margaret T. Burns, questioned whether thousands of votes had been turned in.

The vote for state's attorney is indeed close and Jessamy has not yet conceded, which is understandable given she's still mathematically in the race. And it appears she's at least laying the ground-work to mount a challenge if problems are uncovered.

But Gibson's comments on Thursday were toned down compared to what Burns said on Wednesday, and that brings up another problem. Burns is the spokeswoman for the city State's Attorney's office. She is not the spokesperson for the campaign.

Taxpayers pay Burns to speak on behalf of a public office, on matters of public import, such as trials, the actions of prosecutors and public safety. Her campaign is another matter entirely. Jessamy gets this. She had a Facebook page and Internet site that were whole different from the sites used by her office.

But on Wednesday, there was Burns speaking on behalf of candidate Jessamy instead of prosecutor Jessamy. Her defense that the "campaign is over" because the votes had been cast is questionable, especially since the entire purpose of Burns' statement was to question whether all the votes had been cast.

For more: 

Continue reading "Jessamy's spokewoman under fire" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy's camp is claiming that as many as 10,000 of Baltimore’s primary votes could still be missing, according to The Sun's Tricia Bishop on the Maryland Politics blog. Jessamy's staff says that memory cards from 27 machines in six districts were unaccounted for.

If accurate, it could leave room for the election to sway back toward Jessamy, the incumbent, who’s narrowly trailing challenger Gregg Bernstein.

But city Board of Elections Director Armstead B.C. Jones Sr. said the figures sounded high to him, and that none of it would matter by the end of the day.

“We are going to get to 100 percent” of the votes cast at polling places, he said. Jones did not know how many votes were left to be counted, or when the results could be expected, but he said the office usually shuts down around 4:30 p.m.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

With votes from all the city's precincts tallied, challenger Gregg Bernstein appears to have edged out incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy in the race for Baltimore City State's Attorney, her campaign acknowledged Wednesday morning, though Jessamy has not conceded the race.

“I just don’t know how this happened,” said Jessamy’s spokeswoman  Marilyn Harris-Davis, questioning the integrity of Bernstein’s campaign, which Jessamy has said was made up of “lies” and misrepresentations about her record. Harris-Davis said Jessamy was home resting Wednesday after a long night and would make decisions about talking to media later today.

“We are not conceding,” Harris-Davis said.

The narrow margin raises the significance of absentee ballots, which are to be counted beginning on Thursday. Requests for absentee ballots came from more than 3,600 Baltimore Democrats, and 1,678 had been returned as of Tuesday, according to state officials.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, it appears that challenger Gregg Bernstein has enough votes to defeat State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy.

Bernstein has a 1,400 vote edge, but there are 1,678 absentee ballots left. Though as of this writing neither candidate has claimed victor of conceded defeat, Jessamy would have to nearly nearly all the absentee votes to serve another term. Those ballots will start being counted on Thursday.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney hopeful Gregg Bernstein is leading 15-year incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy by a margin of 29,121 to 27,700. It's 1,421, or about 2.5 percent. Election officials provided the results on a spreadsheet showing that 96 percent of the precincts are reporting, and there is some confusion at this hour as to whether data from a handful of polling places did not make it over into the final tally. There's also the issue of absentee ballots - more than 3,600 were mailed out in Baltimore, and less than half had been returned as of Tuesday.

[Read a Sun reporter Tricia Bishop's recap of the day and reaction from the candidates at their respective campaign parties here]

Bernstein's camp was concerned about election officials' apparent inability to provide details on which polling places hadn't reported - in fact, it became unclear whether that was an issue at all, with Board of Elections president Lawrence Cager refusing to answer any questions.

Here's what I know: Jessamy supporters Rep. Elijah Cummings and Larry S. Gibson, who visited the elections office to view the data firsthand, appeared disappointed at the results, and Bernstein's camp, including wife Sheryl Goldstein and defense attorney Warren Brown, seemed cautiously confident that the lead was insurmountable.

Officials will begin counting the absentees on Thursday, and at this stage its probably prudent to label this one "too close to call."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore’s more than 200 Baptist ministers endorsed incumbent State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy for the city’s top prosecutor position Monday afternoon, calling her a ”tireless worker” who balances conviction with prevention, Tricia Bishop reports on The Sun's Maryland Politics blog.

“Patricia Jessamy understands that we cannot arrest and convict our way” out of crime in the city, said Bishop Douglas I. Miles, pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore and a member of Baltimore’s Baptist Ministers Conference, which announced the endorsement.

Jessamy, who’s been Baltimore’s state’s attorney for 15 years, has long espoused a three-pronged approach to law enforcement that involves crime-prevention programs, offender treatment and prosecution. Her chief opponent for the position in Tuesday’s primary race, fellow-Democrat Gregg Bernstein, is running on a campaign of fighting crime first and foremost.

WJZ has video of the ministers' endorsement, along with a press conference held by prominent criminal defense attorney William H. "Billy" Murphy Jr., who called Jessamy a failure. 

Jump to the Maryland Politics blog to read more. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Billy Murphy, the longtime criminal defense attorney, says he gave incumbent State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy "a 15-year pass just because she was a black woman" and is speaking out in support of her challenger Gregg Bernstein.

Calling his silence until now a "failure of leadership" on his part, Murphy, a civil rights attorney and former judge who once ran for mayor, said he has a strong preference for black leadership but that Bernstein is simply more qualified than Jessamy.

"We believe, with justification, that a really excellent black lawyer should have that job," Murphy said Saturday. "Gregg Bernstein meets the bill to a 'T', except for the color of his skin. Baltimoreans, black and white, deserve more than what they're getting. He will provide enormously better service to the community."

Speaking along with partner Ken Ravenell, Murphy dismissed the notion that Bernstein supports a "lock 'em up" strategy or will encourage a "police state," as Jessamy and her supporters are charging. Murphy was a vocal critic of past zero tolerance strategies, once coming under fire for linking the tactics of Baltimore police officers with Nazis. He also comes from a distinguished family - his father was one of the first black judges in Maryland, and his great grandfather founded the Afro newspaper.

"This notion of a police state [under Bernstein] is one of the grossest distortions, and I hope everybody can see through that," Murphy said. "This notion that he will set us back 60 years is an appeal to bigotry, and not a fair comment on his life, his history, his professionalism. It's an appeal on race appeal rather than dealing with the issues."

"The suggestion that the only thing that Gregg cares about is being tough on crime - well, he is tough on crime, but he's also a very compassionate guy," Ravenell said. "No one can incarcerate all defendants for all crimes. That's crazy."

Continue reading "High profile attorney Murphy says Jessamy has "failed"" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Continue reading "Mfume, Cummings lead Jessamy rally" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Gregg Bernstein gets the CityPaper's endorsement in the race for Baltimore State's Attorney. Whereas the Afro last week praised incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy's focus on intervention and treatment, the alternative weekly says that and her contention that conviction rates are "smoke and mirrors" "confirmed for us that Jessamy may have lost touch with what it is she and her office are supposed to be doing amid the community appeals and dust-ups with the Police Department." They knock Bernstein on his campaign ads, which they say added more "ugly undertones" to the race, but call him a "smart, passionate attorney ... running on the need to get serious about making good cases against violent offenders and making them stick."

Meanwhile, Jessamy reportedly told a group of local ministers last night that Bernstein's policies "will be taking us back 60 years," (skip to the 1:30 mark of the video) which the author wrote is "a message that resonates well within the American Afrikan community of Baltimore." A citizen journalist who was at the meeting also noted the remark in a Twitter message.

Though O'Malley has voiced his support for Jessamy, the report about the meeting with ministers links Bernstein to O'Malley's "zero-tolerance" approach. It's a correlation Bernstein has been trying to dispute with radio ads saying "he knows you can't lock everyone up." In his public remarks, he's emphasized an approach focusing on violent offenders but also has said that Jessamy's intervention programs take her focus off locking up criminals, which he says should be the office's core mission.

The race will be decided next Tuesday.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

The Afro newspaper has endorsed Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy for a fourth elected term. The endorsement, which you can read here along with the paper's other picks, praises Jessamy's focus on community programs and says challenger Gregg Bernstein's assertion that the office's primary role should be to focus on prosecutions is "too narrow."

The Investigative Voice also hit the streets with Bernstein in the Perkins Homes housing project in Southeast Baltimore, asking residents how race will factor into their decision on a candidate. The Sun will be running features about the candidates in the coming days. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Here's State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's campaign commercial that began airing today, featuring U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings. The ad has a sunny tone, particularly in contrast to the pieces run by challenger Gregg Bernstein that say people are "getting away with murder" in Baltimore due to Jessamy's ineffectiveness. Her commercial hits on her major campaign theme: that since she took over in 1995, crime is down substantially.  "Pat Jessamy is focused, and she's got Baltimore on the right track," Cummings says in the ad. A number of prosecutors appear in the commercial, and the campaign denied that it was filmed during work hours. WBAL reported yesterday that Jessamy spent $176,000 to get it on the airwaves, money that came in the form of a loan from herself after she reported just $38,000 cash on hand in her last campaign finance report.

The city has pursued different crime-fighting strategies as mayors and police commissioners have come and gone, and Jessamy says she's the only constant. The commercial doesn't cite conviction rates - Jessamy doesn't track them, and believes they are "smoke and mirrors." Continue reading to see the raw crime numbers referenced in the ad:

Continue reading "Jessamy ad: "We're moving in the right direction"" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is about to start a media blitz with $176,000 worth of commercials airing on Baltimore's four television stations, paid for at least in part out of her own pocket.

The ads will start running today, featuring U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings and focusing on her record, WBAL reported Wednesday night. Last week, we confirmed with a campaign aide that commercials involving her staff were filmed last month (during the work day), so expect that to be a component of the pieces that air as well.

The $176,000 ad buy represents a huge influx of cash to the Jessamy campaign, which reported just $38,000 cash on hand as of the last campaign finance report a few weeks ago. WBAL reported that Jessamy is using a personal loan, "evidence of how tight the race might be." Challenger Gregg Bernstein had raised nearly $220,000 as of the last report.

Asked for comment by The Sun on Wednesday about when the commercials would air and where Jessamy found the cash, campaign spokeswoman Marilyn Harris-Davis declined to answer a reporter's questions.

Here's how the Bernstein campaign spun Jessamy's ad buy in an e-mail to supporters: "[Jessamy] has the highest salary of any elected official in the state, which presumably has enabled her to make this personal expenditure. It appears that after fifteen years on the job, she has not garnered enough support from the community to run an effective campaign and now must make this attempt to buy the election."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

The Baltimore city lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed defense attorney Gregg Bernstein, saying he will "fight crime first and build partnerships to ensure no violent crime goes unpunished." The endorsement is not a surprise, considering the FOP donated $2,000 to Bernstein's campaign, and the union has sparred with Jessamy over issues such as a "do not call list" that  prohibits officers from testifying.

The endorsement is the latest in the state's attorney's race, following most of the political establishment rallying around incumbent State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III openly supporting Bernstein with a lawn sign that raised Jessamy's ire. Gov. Martin O'Malley gave Jessamy a vote of confidence in July but stopped short of an endorsement, and now there's a controversy brewing over a letter to the Afro-American newspaper from the city's senators backing Jessamy; Sen. George Della was not listed among the co-signers of the actual letter, but his name was on the letterhead and ended up in the endorsement that appeared in print. Della is trying to distance himself from the endorsement. Peter Hermann will have more on that later.

The CityPaper featured the race in today's edition, saying that "in an ordinary city, a political handicapper would give Bernstein the edge. ... But Baltimore is not an ordinary city."

Here's the statement from the FOP, sent via Bernstein's campaign:

Continue reading "City FOP endorses Bernstein; senators' endorsement sparks controversy" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Another relative of the Dawsons - the family of five children and their parents who perished in a fire set by a drug dealer in 2002 - contacted The Sun today to discuss the television commercial that is being aired by the campaign of defense attorney Gregg Bernstein.

The ad features a former employee of the state's attorney's office saying that the family died because of mismanagement in the prosecutor's office, while supporters of State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy held a news conference denouncing the ad and saying that it was exploitative and upsetting to the family. State Sen. Nathaniel McFadden said a statement would be issued on behalf of the family, which never occurred. Instead, I phoned one relative, Alice McNack, who said the commercial made "good points" and that the family has never received the answers to its questions (they filed a $14 million lawsuit in 2005 alleging that the city and state were liable). Other relatives could not be located.

But this morning, Novella Solomon, 55, a sister of Carnell Dawson who lives in Tulsa, Okla., called to discuss her reaction. She said the commercial brought her to tears and said the Bernstein campaign should have contacted relatives. But like McNack, she said a lack of response from the state's attorney's office is more disconcerting.

"The ad was upsetting, but what they did was more upsetting than the ad, by not being open," Solomon said. "The not knowing is worse than any commercial."

Continue reading "Another Dawson relative speaks out" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said on a radio appearance that she "hopes" race isn't playing a role in a defense attorney's challenge to her position, while maintaining that prison population and not conviction rates is the best way to gauge her office's effectiveness.

Race was a major theme when WEAA 88.9 FM hosts Marc Steiner and Anthony McCarthy turned the microphone over to callers. One asked Jessamy if "people are coming after you because most government spots are being taken over by minority women." The next referred to Jessamy as "dada," Swahili for "sister," and linked Gov. Martin O'Malley, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and her chief challenger, defense attorney Gregg Bernstein, as part of a "white male supremacy" plot "because they think they ought to be in charge." Another scolded Steiner for a "tinge of arrogance" in speaking to Jessamy, which he said was not present during interviews with Bealefeld and Bernstein last week. And finally, yet another asked if Bernstein was playing to racial fears and if African Americans should be concerned if he is elected.

Jessamy initially balked on addressing the questions specifically, but did offer this: "I'm hopeful that this has nothing to do with race. I remain hopeful in that regard, and we'll see where the votes come out."

Continue reading "Jessamy talks race, conviction rates, courtroom presence" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney hopeful Gregg Bernstein's latest commercial features the mother of slain Cherry Hill resident Angelo Dangerfield, who was fatally shot in November 2009 while walking his dog. Dangerfield had been a youth leader in his neighborhood, and worked for the city housing agency. Police arrested two men in his case, but prosecutors dropped the charges five weeks later. A spokeswoman told the CityPaper "This is a single-eyewitness case, and post-arrest investigation has been unable to develop sufficient corroboration to enable us to proceed at this time.”

The ad features Dangerfield's mother, Doris, lamenting that prosecutors dropped the case. "If they thought these were the ones who shot my son, why let them go? Someone is getting away with murdering my son," she says.

The policy of refusing cases with only one witness is an unofficial one, and one veteran homicide investigator told me that there are exceptions. But City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy didn't argue when a shooting detective asked her about it at a recent forum. "It doesn't do anybody any good to take cases to trial without sufficient evidence, because then they can never be tried again," Jessamy said at the event. Police contend that in many cases, a crime is witnessed by only one person and therefore additional witnesses may not exist.

As for the quote featured in the commercial about "violent predators" that is attributed to The Baltimore Sun, I can't find any such statement appearing in the 7/29 or 7/30 edition.  that's a paraphrase of a Ron Smith op-ed.

We're told that Jessamy has filmed some commercials, though the campaign has not responded to a question about when those will begin airing. We'll post them here as well when they are unveiled.

Continue reading "New Bernstein ad targets one-witness cases" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

A day after a group of politicians called a news conference to denounce defense attorney Gregg Bernstein's campaign commercials featuring the Dawson family (read coverage of the event here and here), an advisor to State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is now calling attention to Bernstein's past criminal defense work.

This morning, Larry S. Gibson, a former aide to Kurt Schmoke who is working with the Jessamy camp mass e-mailed a 2006 Sun article that noted that Bernstein was the defense attorney for one of the eight co-defendants in a 2006 firebombing of a North Baltimore community activist. The subject line of Gibson's e-mail reads: "He who throws stone..."

Looking at the online court records, Bernstein was court-appointed to represent Andre Wilkins, who pleaded guilty to driving a getaway car for the men who threw Molotov cocktails through the window of Edna McAbier. That generally means that the defendant sought a public defender, but because another co-defendant already had a public defender, others were given court-appointed private attorneys so as to receive independent defense counsel. There's about 100 attorneys among the felony panel that can be appointed.

Wilkins received more than 20 years in prison, and in the article Bernstein is quoted saying that Wilkins testified against others and should have received a sentence closer in length to another co-defendant.

Some commenters on this blog, and of course Jessamy's supporters, have raised the question of whether an attorney who has spent the bulk of his career helping accused criminals game the system or beat charges is the best to fix what ails the state's attorney's office. Bernstein was a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office for four years, but that was 20 years ago. Since then, he's been largely a white collar defense attorney and securities litigation, but has also handled criminal cases, petty and large. (The Sun's Annie Linskey reported Thursday that he's currently representing Sen. Ulysses Currie, the powerful Prince George's County legislator facing a federal probe.)

A future story will look more in-depth at this as an issue, but what do you think? Can a defense attorney improve the state's attorney's office?

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of politicians and community members gathered to call on the campaign of Gregg Bernstein to withdraw a television commercial that invokes the killing of a family of seven in an intentionally set fire in 2002. The ad featured a former employee of the state's attorney's office who said that the deaths resulted from "mismanagement" of the witness protection program, a claim police and prosecutors have vigorously denied. The officials on Wednesday denounced the ad as distasteful and disrespectful to the family, and there's a robust debate to be had about where the line is to be drawn in campaign ads and whether the deaths should be brought up in political debate.

But one aspect of the press conference stuck out to me. Those who spoke repeatedly invoked the surviving family's pain and heartbreak over the tragedy. But it quickly became clear, however, that no one had spoken to the family about the substance of the commercial itself. That's an important point, because it cannot be inferred that the family would necessarily be upset - the claims made in the commercial are actually some of the same ones raised by surviving relatives in a $14 million lawsuit filed against State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and other city and state officials, who they claim did not do enough to protect the family as it squared off with neighborhood drug dealers. The suit was dismissed when the courts ruled that the city and state could not be held liable.

Though State Sen. Nathaniel McFadden said the family was 'very, very upset' about the commercial, when pressed by reporters, he called on the director of the Dawson Family Safe Haven Center. She said she hadn't spoken to Angela Dawson's adult daughter since viewing the commercial over the weekend, but said "you can imagine" how they would feel.

I couldn't reach the daughter, Lakesha Bowles, who may very well be upset about the ad, and several phone numbers for other relatives were disconnected. But I did reach Alice McNack, sister of Dawson family patriarch Carnell Dawson, and she said she wasn't troubled by the commercial. In fact, she said she it "makes some good points" and that she still believes city officials didn't present the Dawsons with viable options for witness protection. She had stronger comments for those expressing outrage on behalf of the family.

Because this campaign has generated a lot of interest, I'm going to cut and paste some of the quotes I gathered when reporting the story that appears in Thursday's paper:

Continue reading "Politicians, Dawson relative react to Bernstein campaign ad" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Confronting crime, State's Attorney Campaign
        

A number of high-level assistant state's attorney's spent part of Tuesday in a photo and television commercial shoot for their boss' re-election campaign, the campaign confirmed.

The shoot took place at the law offices of Larry Gibson, a few blocks from the courthouse. Marilyn-Harris Davis, a spokeswoman for the campaign of Patricia C. Jessamy, initially told The Sun on Monday that only "community coordinators" had taken part and did so before the work day began. But after being pressed, she said Tuesday morning that prosecutors had indeed were involved but that all did so on their lunch break.

"Everybody who participated volunteered, either before work hours or during their break," Harris-Davis said. She said there was nothing inappropriate about the employees taking part in the campaign. "Every politician I've worked with, I have volunteered on their campaigns. I don't think its inappropriate at all."

A spokeswoman for the State's Attorney's Office did not return an e-mail seeking comment referred questions to the campaign; Gibson and I traded phone calls and I was unable to connect with him Monday afternoon. 

Continue reading "Prosecutors take part in commercial shoot" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

UPDATE: Is that Police Department spokesman Kevin Brown appearing at the :22 mark in a generic police uniform? Story about campaign ad and police cameo here.

In a scathing television advertisement released today by the Gregg Bernstein campaign, the former witness protection coordinator for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy says "people are getting away with murder, and it's because Patricia Jessamy fails to convict them." The ad shows images of the Dawson family funeral, and says that "we lost five children and their parents because the state's attorney's office mismanaged" the witness protection program.

The ad quotes DiTanya Madden, who made the same claims in 2003, contending that the office failed to do all it could to protect the Dawsons, the family of seven who police said were killed in a retaliatory arson in East Baltimore.

Continue reading "Bernstein releases first television ad" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

In case you missed it this weekend, Peter Hermann spoke with voters and political observers about the role race may play in the campaign for city state's attorney.

At a small gathering of local merchants at a restaurant on Greenmount Avenue, Patricia C. Jessamy was among friends who nodded in agreement as Baltimore's state's attorney spoke not only of locking up criminals, but of understanding "underlying factors" that lead to crime and of keeping police in check.

All but one of the dozen merchants at the meeting were black, as is Jessamy. When talk turned to her Democratic primary challenger, attorney Gregg Bernstein, who is white, the group agreed that he seems interested in "prosecuting everybody," even though he has never said those words.

As Jessamy and Bernstein wrangle over who should serve as top prosecutor in an all-too violent city, the debate at one level concerns conviction rates, management ability and successful trials. Below the surface, however, the discussion is infused with race, as is often the case in Baltimore, where six in 10 residents are black and the city's jail is packed with young black men locked up for drugs and other crimes.

Columnist Dan Rodricks, who hosted the first true debate between the two candidates this month, also wrote a column asking whether a change in the top prosecutor can truly change the circumstances.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Continue reading "Prosecutor candidates debate in front of black officers" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's fundraising totals are up, and show that she raised about $46,000 since her last report in January, leaving her with $38,000 cash on hand. That pales in comparison to challenger Gregg Bernstein, who raised about $220,000 in just a few weeks and announced his candidacy at the 11th hour.

Jessamy has never raised more than $130,000 in an entire election cycle (she has never really had to, either), though with a broad base of support - including among much of the political establishment - experts said it may not necessarily be too late to raise some last minute cash. The Democratic primary - in which the race will be decided - is Sept. 14. 

With both candidates' reports up, here's some quick observations:

-Jessamy received $2,000 from former Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, $2,000 from U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, $1,000 from Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey, and $250 from State Sen. Catherine Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat. Sheila Dixon and former State's Attorney Stuart Simms are among those who bought tickets to her events.

-Bernstein's support came largely from the legal community, with a sizable portion coming from high-powered lawyers and law firms. He also received $2,000 from the Baltimore Police Fraternal Order of Police; and $250 from State Sen. Jim Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat.

-Skimming through Jessamy's contributions, I also noted a number of employees of the State's Attorney's Office.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

The chief challenger to Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced Tuesday that he raised more than $200,000, a figure that experts say should continue to boost the visibility of a race that has been heating up.

Gregg Bernstein, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, raised $217,000 with contributions from about 450 individuals, his campaign said. The amount is more than Jessamy has ever raised in a full election cycle, according to campaign finance records, though Jessamy has faced only nominal opposition in the past. Jessamy, who would not release totals ahead of the deadline to file, will face Bernstein in the Democratic primary next month.

Read more here. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

[Towson professor Richard Vatz, who teaches rhetoric and communication, posted his analysis of the style and substance of the debate on the conservative Red Maryland blog. Check it out here.

The Daily Record also had a summary of the debate here

And of course the raw audio is here]

Baltimore state's attorney candidate Gregg Bernstein and incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy met face to face in their first extended debate Thursday, frequently trading barbs.

During WYPR's "Midday with Dan Rodricks," Jessamy called Bernstein a liar, while he called her ineffective and isolated. The candidates in the Democratic primary also tossed out various claims and statistics to support their candidacy.

The Sun took a closer look at their claims and put them into context to see how they held up under scrutiny.

Continue reading "Analysis of prosecutor debate" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

She said it "wasn't about the signs," but with Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III taking down his campaign signs for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's opponent, Jessamy is backing off her call for an independent investigation of whether Bealefeld was politicking while on the job.

WJZ caught Jessamy outside of the studios of WYPR, where she debated challenger Gregg Bernstein. We'll have an analysis of that debate later, but for now here's what Jessamy told reporters:

City State's Attorney Pat Jessamy says her feud is over with Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld now that he has taken down the sign endorsing her opponent.

Mike Hellgren reports this is the latest development in a high-profile disagreement.

Bealefeld says he removed those signs endorsing Gregg Bernstein for state's attorney because this controversy has become too much of a distraction to fighting crime.

Earlier this week, Jessamy asked for an independent investigation when she said Bealefeld lied about approaching people about Bernstein. She said one of her supporters was approached by Bealefeld while he was in uniform and on duty.  Bealefeld denies the charges.

Now, Jessamy says since Bealefeld admitted the sign was a distraction, the dispute is over.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Frank Conaway, the longtime clerk of court whose wife and children also hold elected positions in the city, issued a press release today calling for Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to step down for expressing his support for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's opponent.

In an interview, Conaway said Bealefeld was doing a good job as commissioner but said he was fearful that Bealefeld's views might intimidate voters. His statement was more forceful, saying Bealefeld "has demonstrated that he lacks the political impartiality, sound judgment, and honesty required of a police commissioner."

"He can influence people merely by being police commissioner and having that badge," Conaway said in an interview. "He has 3,000 policemen that he can influence, possibly. And on election day, each polling police has a policeman. That can be intimidating."

He said "at the very least," Bealefeld should step down until the campaign is over. "Then he can campaign for Mr. Bernstein all he wants to," Conaway said. 

Conaway's press release is below:

Continue reading "Clerk of Court calls for Bealefeld to resign" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (48)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III has taken down the campaign signs in his front lawn that prompted accusations of impropriety from the city’s top prosecutor, In a statement sent from his private email account, he called the situation “distracting” from the fight against crime. The signs were taken down Monday.

“The Baltimore Police Department's obligation is to prevent crime and apprehend criminals. We must constantly work to remain focused on public safety in our City. Current events distract from that core mission. My responsibility, as Police Commissioner, is first and foremost to the people I serve and I can not allow my focus to be shifted from that. Therefore, I will have no further comment on this issue.”

The Sun reported last week that Bealefeld had taken an unprecedented step last week by placing two signs for defense attorney Gregg Bernstein in the yard of his Southwest Baltimore home and releasing a statement that said police needed a “true partner” in the state’s attorney’s office. It's generally frowned upon for police chiefs to express political support, particularly in a race for a position that is an arm's-length partner of police. But many have praised Bealefeld for stepping out on an issue he knows better than just about anybody else. In an unscientific poll, 86 percent of Sun readers supported Bealefeld.

The his support for Bernstein angered City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, who on Tuesday called a news conference asking for an independent investigation of whether Bealefeld was soliciting support for Bernstein on the job and questioned his integrity. Jessamy said her concern was not over the signs - which she maintained were "inappropriate" - but specifics about an interaction between Bealefeld and one of her supporters. She said settling the discrepancies was a matter of "truth and credibility."

Bealefeld said such a probe was unnecessary, and it was not clear what Jessamy's next move will be. The 15-year incumbent gave him a deadline of 48 hours to respond.

The Bernstein campaign, meanwhile, claims that it had to reorder signs due an "overwhelming response" from media coverage. They declined to specify how many signs had been distributed.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

The campaign of defense attorney Gregg Bernstein just released this statement in reference to State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's accusations today that Bernstein is a "rubber stamp" for the police department who is being improperly pushed by Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III:

“If the issues facing the citizens of Baltimore regarding public safety were not so serious, Ms. Jessamyʼs continued attention on a sign on the commissionerʼs front lawn and conversations he may have had with other citizens would almost be comical. But it is distressing and disturbing that the Stateʼs Attorney would waste the publicʼs time and valuable resources by calling for some independent investigation of the commissionerʼs exercise of his first amendment rights. If there should be any independent investigation, it should be about the ineffectiveness of her office over the past 15 years.

Continue reading "Jessamy's opponent reacts to news conference" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: State's Attorney Campaign
        

Continue reading "Jessamy questions Bealefeld's integrity, calls for investigation" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

The nascent war between the city's top prosecutor and police commissioner continues this afternoon when Patricia C. Jessamy is expected to hold a news conference to "propose resolution to Bealefeld credibility issue."

That is the totality of her announcement. Jessamy's spokeswoman declined to even hint at what will be revealed at 12:30 p.m. What's interesting is that it appears Jessamy doesn't just plan to sling mud but she found a way for Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld to resolve whatever issue he might have.

So what is this? Jessamy campaign spokeswoman Marilyn Harris-Davis refused to say.

I asked police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi whether his boss has a "credibility issue" and he answered: "I do not believe so. I belivee he is widely respected among people of Baltimore. We're anxious to see what credibility issue he has."

Tensions erupted last week when Bealefeld put a campaign sign on the front lawn of his private house supporting Gregg Bernstein, Jessamy's challenger in the upcoming September primary. Jessamy countered that a police chief taking sides in an election was unprecended and inappropriate.

Jessamy's campaign put forth Billy Taylor, who said that Bealefeld asked him to meet with Bernstein. The campaign called the commissioner's approach inappropriate; the commissioner said he didn't do anything wrong and the solicitation was made while he was off-duty and by a private phone line. Taylor says there was no phone call and Bealefeld approached him while in uniform.

Taylor sent me an e-mail over the weekend saying that Bealefeld lied about the circumstances around the encounter. This is one possibility for the news conference.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Another well known Baltimorean is backing the campaign of State's Attorney hopeful Gregg Bernstein, reports the Investigative Voice.

Placed prominently outside of director John Waters' Tuscany-Canterbury home is a lawn sign touting the candidacy of defense attorney Bernstein, "a firm endorsement from the man known for turning Baltimore’s pathological quirkiness into a foil for the absurd," the site reported. Waters, the director known for offbeat, offensive, and often bizarre comedic cult classics such as “Female Trouble,” “Polyester” and “Hairspray,” has rarely if ever ventured into city politics, though this one seems more personal than political. 

“He [Bernstein] is a good friend,” Waters wrote in response to an email from an IV reporter.

A controversy touched off last week when The Sun reported that Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III had placed a Bernstein campaign sign in the front yard of his Southwest Baltimore home, wading into what many say is unprecedented territory here and elsewhere for a top law enforcement official but which Bealefeld believes is necessary in order to improve public safety in the city. Incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy has called it "inappropriate" and accused Bealefeld of using his uniform to play politics.

Continue reading "A Divine Endorsement" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is blasting back at the city's police commissioner for putting up a campaign sign on the lawn of his house supporting her challenger in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.

Jessamy, using her campaign office stationary, called Frederick H. Bealefeld III's foray into politics "unprecedented and inappropriate" and she said the "overt actions by a police commissioner to influence the outcome of an election can only led to divisiveness and distrust in the community."

The two top law enforcement officials -- Jessamy is elected, Bealefeld is appointed -- have feuded for years over policing strategies, quality of arrests and investigations and whether prosecutors are aggressive enough in pursing cases and jailing offenders.

Former federal prosecutor and defense attorney Gregg Bernstein is Jessamy's first serious challenger in eight years and its trying to tap into the frustrations of city crime and repeat offenders graduating to more serious offenses before they get serious prison time.

Jessamy took a swipe at Bealefeld in her statement, suggesting the commissioner is not focused on his job. "It is Mrs. Jessamy's hope that Commissioner Bealefeld will refocus his efforts on apprehending the perpetrators of crimes and assembling evidence to be presented in court and that he will leave the politics to others."

Here is Jessamy's statement:

Continue reading "Jessamy blasts back at Bealefeld for supporting opponent" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Breaking news, City Hall, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III has thrust himself into a political campaign. It's no secret that he and State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy don't always (or ever) see eye-to-eye, but the top cop has put a sign in his yard (left) supporting her challenger in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.

(Read Sun police reporter Justin Fenton's full story for more of the political back and forth)

He makes it clear he's doing this as Citizen Bealefeld, not Commissioner Bealefeld, but separating the two is more matter of semantics than reality. Should a top police official interject himself into the political fray? Will it complicate his efforts now, or in the future, should Jessamy win, and Gregg Bernstein loses?

All good questions. Cops in the past have gotten into trouble for wearing their uniforms in political ads, and Bealefeld's not doing this. But he has been increasingly vocal about his disdain for a judicial system (judges, prosecutors, probation officials and others) who continually feed the revolving door justice system in Baltimore.

It goes without fail that Bealefeld's cops arrest a criminal in a particularly horrible crime, as the stabbing of Stephen Pitcairn in Charles Village, and the suspects will have just gotten out of prison on probation for a violent crime for which they served little time.

Bealefeld and commissioners past have battled Jessamy over policing strategies, what arrests are sound and what are not, whether officers with troubled pasts can be put on so-called do-not-testify lists and how thoroughly cases need to be investigated before being charged.

Here is one part of Justin's story today:

Christopher Dreisbach, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Division of Public Safety Leadership whose focus includes law enforcement ethics, said Bealefeld as a citizen has a clear right to advocate for a candidate. He said he believes it's also Bealefeld's professional duty to advocate for the best interests of police.

"If they weren't adversarial, there might be a different issue at stake. … But I don't think he's giving anything away at this point," said Dreisbach. "Is he shooting himself in the foot? Possibly, but he has the right to do so, and [the consequences] will be determined down the road."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

"The Facebook page will be used to highlight day-to-day activities and how members of the Office are an active and vital part of our city," a press release says. "It will describe current and past efforts by Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy to press for tougher laws to fight crime and protect victims and highlight policies."

Officials say the idea was the result of a suggestion by Assistant State’s Attorney Mark J. Jaskulski and Law Clerk Elizabeth Bayly. Jaskulski and Bayly wrote and presented a proposal to increase the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office’s online presence. Bayly hopes this venture “will increase the public’s access to and awareness of the positive impact this Office makes on a daily basis," the statement said. Oh, there's also an election coming up.

The Baltimore police department has had a Facebook page since last year, which it uses to highlight arrests and community events but also the daily homicides, shootings, and other major crimes. The steady stream of bad news is outweighed by the public's right to know, police have said, and the discussions on their page aren't always pretty. It doesn't sound like the state's attorney's office will be using their page for anything other than a public relations tool, though that's how most government agencies and officials use their pages anyway.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

During an appearance in West Baltimore to announce $7 million in public safety funding grants, Gov. Martin O'Malley was asked whether he would be endorsing anyone in the upcoming state's attorney's race.

He stopped short of endorsing her, but offered what sounded like high praise for incumbent Patricia Jessamy, saying their "partnership has never been stronger," that they talk every day, and that her "leadership and performance" has been a big part of crime declines in Baltimore. Specifically pressed if he would endorse her, he replied: "I anticipate - yeah, stayed tuned." Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown also appeared at her birthday fundraiser over the weekend, according to reports.

That's particular notable, as friction between O'Malley and Jessamy is well-documented, and in one his last acts as mayor he increased her salary dramatically - 60 percent, or $83,000, to $225,000 - in what many believed was an attempt to make the position more attractive to potential challengers. When defense attorney Gregg Bernstein announced he would challenge Jessamy in the Democratic primary, Jessamy even accused of O'Malley of putting Bernstein up to it.

I've sought clarity this morning from O'Malley's campaign spokesman, through text, email and phone calls, and haven't heard back.  I will update this post when I do.

Rick Abruzzese, O'Malley's campaign spokesman said in an email: "I think the Governor’s words speak for themselves. And the important thing is that the two of them are working well together and achieving results."

Here's a transcript of O'Malley's remarks, which came right after he said "yes" when asked if Judge John Addison Howard had "dropped the ball" in his handling of suspect John Alexander Wagner:

Continue reading "O'Malley offers praise for Jessamy, stops short of explicit endorsement" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: City Hall, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign, West Baltimore
        

Sunday's stabbing death of Hopkins researcher Stephen Pitcairn is now immersed in politics. Former federal prosecutor Gregg Bernstein is charging that his opponent in the upcoming race for Baltimore State's Attorney failed to prosecute one of the main suspects and thus left him out on the street.

At issue is a case from April in which John Alexander Wagner was charged with robbing a gas station attendant, a crime that was caught, albeit briefly, on a video surveillance camera. (See the surveillance video at the end of the extended version of this post) The victim refused to cooperate, worried about retaliation, and prosecutors in State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy's office dropped the case.

Police privately say they feel the case still had merit and more than enough evidence even without the testimony of the victim. Prosecutors said they are Constitutionally bound to allow a suspect to cross examine a witness and can't move forward without the victim. "No victim, no case," said a spokeswoman.

Bernstein issued this statement today:

 “Stephen Pitcairn’s murder, like so many others in Baltimore, was not just senseless – but preventable.  John Wagner, like too many other violent offenders was allowed to walk out of the courtroom without being convicted.  If the State’s Attorney had done her job, a job she has had for over 15 years, Stephen Pitcairn might still be alive today."

Jessamy countered:

"Our thoughts and prayers go out ot the family of Stephan Pitcairn, a young man of great promise who was tragically and senselessly murdered. Shame on Gregg Bernstein for politicizing this tragedy!"

Jessamy declined an interview request. But we've reviewed the court file and there is at least one issue Bernstein raises in his full statement (which can be viewed below) that does not appear to be true. He charges that "nothing was done to speak" with the victim before prosecutors decided to drop the case.

The court file contains a document that shows prosecutor notes indicating authorities repeatedly pleaded with the victim to testify. "Very uncooperative," one note says. "Victim did not want to speak further," another note says. 

Continue reading "Bernstein lashes out at Jessamy over stabbing" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Two former prosecutors say crime statistics are fair game for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy to tout as she fights for re-election.

As Jessamy is criticized by her Democratic primary challenger over conviction rates, her campaign posted crime statistics on her campaign website showing a 59 percent drop in the most serious crimes in Baltimore since 1995, her first year in office. Political operative Larry Gibson, a veteran of the Schmoke administrations, sent the statistics out to reporters over the weekend.

Jessamy has maintained that conviction rates are a poor way to gauge her office's effectiveness. But conversely, can she take credit for the city's crime declines?

"When police and prosecutors are working together effectively and as a result, crime appears to be going down, that is generally conceded as a good sign," Abraham said. "I don't think conviction rates tell the tale."

Abraham, who did not seek re-election last year, took heat over dropped cases too - the Philadelphia Inquirer found that nearly two-thirds of all defendants accused of violent crimes walked free of all charges - but she said her critics failed to take into account the complexity of many cases. "Prosecutors can sometimes go through hoops to get a conviction and the judges won't convict, or witnesses won't show up - not at the fault of any prosecutor," she said.

Abraham said she knows Jessamy well and has been impressed with her community outreach. "She's easily accessible, does community outreach, has effective programs and addresses issues not only from a prosecution viewpoint but a prevention viewpoints," she said. "I'm extremely impressed with her ability." 

Continue reading "Two former prosecutors say crime stats fair game for prosecutors" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

We received an odd email on Saturday night. It was unsigned, but appeared to be a press release from the campaign of State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. The first line read, "Jessamy: Tough and Smart on Crime," (her campaign slogan) and it proceeded to explain that since Jessamy took office in 1995, crime had declined substantially. It didn't say whether Jessamy was taking credit for this decline, nor did it draw any parallels between prosecutions and crime rate. There was no contact information.  

In an attempt to discern the sender's identity, I wrote back. It turned out it was from none other than Larry S. Gibson, an old hand in politics once described as the "man behind [former mayor] Kurt Schmoke" and a political "kingmaker" in the city. Though the statistics and exact wording of the email appear on the front page of Jessamy's election web site, Gibson said he had prepared the email as a private citizen because it was important that the "public know the truth," calling Democratic primary challenger Gregg Bernstein "dishonest."

Gibson said he has had almost no involvement in local politics since 1999 (he ran former state's attorney Stuart Simms' failed bid for Attorney General in 2006), but wants to get involved with the Jessamy campaign. "I intend to do what I can to re-elect Patricia Jessamy," he wrote in a reply email. 

Among the stats highlighted is the 80 percent decline in rapes, which victim's advocates say "doesn't make sense on any planet" as a team of detectives audits police investigations. It's an interesting strategy, to be highlighting police statistics as she is criticized over conviction rates, which she has called an "old school" way of measuring effectiveness. The police, among Jessamy's biggest critics, would say they achieved those declines in spite of her office, not because of it. But it's not the first time Jessamy has made the claim, telling The Sun's Julie Bykowicz in May: "I tell everyone ... crime has been going down since 1995, and the only consistent thing there has been me."

In a 2001 story about Jessamy's what then appeared to be weakening support among the city's black political establishment, Gibson declined to comment. But Gibson says he will be one of her biggest champions in this year's election, in part fueled by what he says is dishonesty from Bernstein:

Continue reading "Former Schmoke campaign manager speaks out in defense of Jessamy" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, facing what may be her first serious challenge in years in the fall election, appeared Friday morning on the Larry Young Morning Show on WOLB and got into a debate with prominent defense attorney Warren Brown, a supporter of Jessamy's opponent, Gregg Bernstein. I did not hear the show; but former city prosecutor Page Croyder, a frequent Jessamy critic, summarized the portion she heard:

Continue reading "Jessamy and defense attorney Brown debate on radio" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

[Related: Bailey-Shellenberger rematch a go for Baltimore County state's attorney]

Gregg Bernstein, a former federal prosecutor, formally announced today his candidacy for Baltimore State's Attorney today. Sun reporter Jean Marbella had an detailed writeup about the race in yesterday's paper, which you can find here.  Below, I've pasted the press release for the campaign announcement, which was held in Charles Village near where reputed gang leader Donatello Fenner was gunned down. (Bernstein was introduced at the event by defense attorney Warren Brown - I didn't know the two were so close when I spoke to Brown about Bernstein's rumored candidacy a few weeks ago. I had reached out to Brown more in terms of his experience having considered a run against Patricia Jessamy a few years ago)

Here's some quotes from the press conference, posted on the Maryland Politics blog (It's now updated with a response from Jessamy, who said Bernstein's stats are wrong and that partnerships with federal prosecutors are leading to convictions that the state prosecutors don't get credit for):

“I know I can do better,” said Bernstein, who spoke with his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, the director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice, and two sons at his side.

“I know my way around a courtroom,” said Bernstein, who has 30 years of trial experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney, “a place the current State’s Attorney has not been seen since she took office.”

As we noted before, Goldstein's role presents an interesting situation. Though she's a Dixon appointee, she currently works as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's crime czar and works on a daily basis with criminal justice stakeholders including the state's attorney's office.

Continue reading "Bernstein campaign announcement" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy may have a challenger in the fall election - and it's an intriguing one.

Word is that former assistant U.S. attorney Gregg Bernstein is testing the waters, and Adam Meister at Charm City Current blogged that a reader had received a phone call from a pollster asking questions about a possible Bernstein candidacy. Bernstein may be best known for successfully defending state Sen. Larry Young against bribery and extortion charges.

But he is also the husband of Sheryl Goldstein, the director of the Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice, which is essentially the mayor's crime czar. In that role, Goldstein works closely with the police department and other law enforcement agencies, and is an integral part of programs such as GunStat and issues dealing with juvenile justice. Obviously, she has a lot of insight into the innerworkings of the criminal justice system, and that would include the state's attorney's office.

Goldstein was brought in during the Dixon administration and is a close ally of Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and may have to step down or take a leave of absence if her husband's candidacy comes together.

Goldstein declined comment, and Bernstein could not immediately be reached. Jessamy, for her part, said she believes Gov. Martin O'Malley "recruited" Bernstein and said she confronted O'Malley with the claim at an event over the weekend.

"I've heard from a lot of different sources that he's been recruiting. I told him, 'I'm ready for it,'" she said. "I think I have an outstanding record; I'm going to run on my record. I don't know what [Bernstein] is running on, but my record, it's a good one."

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Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign