City state’s attorney counters call for spokeswoman’s ouster

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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy fired back Thursday at protesters calling for the ouster of her spokeswoman, Margaret Burns.

Nearly 60 people gathered outside the Mitchell Courthouse on Thursday afternoon to demand Burns’ resignation over her controversial comments made about the beating death of Baltimore resident Zach Sowers.

But Jessamy hit back.

“I have learned over the past months that anything I, or individuals in my office, say or do in reference to the Zach Sowers case will in all [probability] be misstated, misquoted, misrepresented, misinterpreted, and/or misunderstood,” Jessamy said in a written statement released Thursday afternoon.

“Knowing this, I therefore decline to make any statement regarding past or current or future events related to the case.”

Sowers was beaten by an attacker during a robbery last year and later died from the injuries after spending nearly a year in a coma. His main assailant received 40 years in prison as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

But statements made by Burns last month in an interview with The Daily Record’s free publication Exhibit A downplay the severity of Sowers’ injuries. Burns was quoted as saying Sowers looked like a “sleeping baby” in a coma and was not as severely beaten as his family claims. Those statements have fueled a series of protests that have stirred passions among Sowers’ friends and supporters.

Burns has said she was misquoted and offered an apology to Anna Sowers, the widow of Zach Sowers.

But supporters of Sowers’ family said Burns’ apology was not enough and called for her to retract the statements.

“What Margaret Burns said de-legitimized Ann’s platform for pursuing changes like Zach’s laws to the criminal justice system,” said Ramsey Flynn, a friend and support of Sowers. “It has become a roadblock for her.”

Flynn said Anna Sowers has been working on a 15-point plan to stiffen penalties and give prosecutors greater leeway in charging assailants whose victims are in a coma.

“We had a meeting with Ms. Jessamy in March, and she was very receptive to our ideas; I guess Marty Burns didn’t get the memo that we were working with the State’s Attorney’s Office,” Flynn added.

 “I think her comments are part of a larger problem that needs to be addressed with how things work in the prosecutor’s office,” said Brian Strumke, 31, a friend of Zach Sowers who attended the protest.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

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