Baltimore Politics Examiner

Meanwhile the Baltimore Sun came out with a must read article on Monday that reveals that Patricia Jessamy does not want a study of disparities between Baltimore and suburban jury outcomes to be published as it currently reads.  Below is a quote from the Sun that describes information in the report:

"Conviction rates also vary between the city to the counties depending on the charges. In the city, 57 percent of drug defendants and 57 of defendants charged with personal offenses (such as murder, assault or robbery) were convicted. Those numbers in the counties were 95 percent and 69 percent, respectively.

After tabulating that data, Flower developed a probability formula to predict the likelihood of a conviction. The "starkest difference," she wrote, was that jurors in nearby counties are 30 times more likely than their city counterparts to convict a defendant of the most serious charge against him. The probability of a conviction on the top count is 2 percent in the city and 63 percent in the counties, the report says."

Ouch!

So with those statistics in mind let us return to Pigtown.  There are a lot of criminals floating around Pigtown who are drug addicts who need to commit all sorts of crimes to fuel their habits.  There are individuals who come to Pigtown to participate in the illicit activities that help fuel the drug trade.  The community has come up with a list of individuals who have committed crime after crime but have served little to no time and continue to commit more crimes that seem to be getting worse.  They want the State's Attorney's office to work with them to finally put some of these people away for long periods of time so word gets out that you will be punished in Pigtown. For now the Pigtown criminals know that they have a great shot at getting no punishment from a Baltimore Jury (as the report shows).  They also know that the State's Attorney's office is not being very proactive in shutting them down for a long period of time. Basically criminals can get away with most anything in Pigtown and they know it. The community wants to draw a line in the sand now and finally put and end to this virtual anarchy.

Later this month there is going to be an emergency crime summit in Pigtown. I will try to be there at some point and describe what happens. The community wants to work with the state's attorney and the police.  The community is proactively going out of its way to work with the officials who are supposed to be serving them.  Will the officials step up and finally put a dent in the revolving door never ending cycle of Pigtown crime?

UPDATE: Jean Marbella wrote a great piece in the Sun about the study.

Here is a typical Jessamy-related quote from the article (Bold print added by me):

"Jessamy's spokeswoman Margaret T. Burns said that a review of Costley's closed cases has not been done, nor has Jessamy ordered one. Jessamy declined to be interviewed for this article."

Silence from Jessamy and yet another reminder that Burns is still around... for now.

Maurice Fullwood was charged in a warrant with the fatal shooting of another man during an argument at Linden Bar and Liquors on July 19th. He was arrested a few days ago.

If you visit the Maryland Judiciary Case Search site and type in Maurice Fullwood's name you will see he has an interesting rap sheet.

In 2001 he had six different charges filed again him in case number 101129025 in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The specific charges were: attempted first degree murder, attempted second degree murder, first degree assault, second degree assault, deadly weapon intent to injure, and violation of probation. Fullwood plead guilty to the first degree assault charge and was sentenced to twenty years in prison with fifteen of those years suspended.  I bet the family of the victim of the Linden Liquors shooting is wondering why fifteen of those years were suspended.  That is a question for the State's Attorney's office. Do you think they would be willing to answer questions on this subject?

From the United Way of Central Maryland's "about us" section of their web site:

"Dedicated to creating opportunities that change the region for the better by tackling long-term social problems, United Way is dedicated to building stronger people. Stronger families. Stronger neighborhoods."

If you accept political contributions from an establishment you are basically approving of what that establishment does. How can one be part of an organization that tackles long-term social problems and at the same time take money from liquor stores in northwest Baltimore?  How can one be state's attorney and accept money from liquor stores?  These are great questions for Jessamy but of course Jessamy has not been in the talking mood lately. Maybe I should ask some of her fellow board members and leaders at the United Way what they think? Actually I am pretty busy so maybe you guys will want to ask her fellow board members and leaders at the United Way what they think of this little finding and what they think about their fellow board member's stance on firing Margaret Burns?  All of the following information is public and on the Internet:

Roger L. Calvert- Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc.- rcalvert@fbw.com
Emerson L. Dorsey - Tydings & Rosenberg- edorsey@tydingslaw.com
William H. Oliver, CPA (Chair)- Clifton Gunderson, LLP- bill.oliver@cliftoncpa.com
Bernard A. Cook, Esq.- Cook & DiFranco, LLC- bcook@cookanddifranco.com
L. John Pearson- Baltimore Life Insurance Company - john.pearson@baltlife.com
Mary Pat Seurkamp, Ph.D.-   College of Notre Dame of Maryland - mseurkamp@ndm.edu
Y. Maria Welch- Respira Medical - mwelch@respiramedical.com
Aris Melissaratos- Johns Hopkins University- aris@jhmi.edu
Marianne D. Fishler- SunTrust Bank SunTrust Investment Services- marianne.fishler@suntrust.com
Warren Green- LifeBridge Health- wgreen@lifebridgehealth.org

What would happen if people stopped giving money to the United Way until Jessamy was removed from the board or Margaret Burns was fired?

As usual the media distracts us with the civil rights history of Jessamy and her family. Those actions were very important in the 1960s, but just because you did something groundbreaking almost a half-century ago does not mean that you should be excused from being totally incompetent in the present.  In most Jessamy fluff pieces the message that is conveyed is forget about the horrible situation we are all living in because Jessamy and her family did great things a half-century ago! It's sick that this woman gets to hide behind the civil rights movement while Baltimore burns before our eyes.

Here are some quotes that I find fascinating:

"Now her driver is rushing her to the corner of East North Avenue and Hope Street, where a crowd of people is waiting for her to lead an anti-violence march in the neighborhood, which has suffered shootings, robberies, and drug deals for as long as anyone can remember."

and

"Just as the last bottle of water is passed out and final route instructions are given, the black sedan with tinted windows slides up to the curb."

Ok. So she gets paid $225,000 a year, she has her own DRIVER, and she is driven around in a black sedan where she sips on bottled water.  Remember, the tax payers are paying for all of this, and NONE of it is necessary to be State's Attorney. If she was is touch with the common people then she could drive herself around instead of having a chauffeur.  It is sad that citizens of communities like Oliver can not see this. 

Does anyone remember in the book Animal Farm when the pigs became humans?

Maybe one day soon Pharaoh Jessamy will get out of her luxury black sedan and make a comment about what her propaganda minister Margaret Burns said (lied) about Zach Sowers.  Maybe she can take a moment of time from her "busy schedule" and talk to us commoners who question her inefficiencies. Burns and Jessamy are hiding, but they will have to come out eventually.  It is sad that Jessamy is so blind that she does not realize that Burns will be her downfall and that the only way to save herself (and FINALLY do the right thing) is to fire Burns.

Speaking of the Co-State's Attorney and her moronic and offensive comments about Zach Sowers... Here is an online petition you can fill out to support the firing of Margaret Burns. 

I want to end this post on a positive note. Anna Sowers got some possitive DC press last week. Here is a clip of her on the Ron Smith Show.   Here is a letter to the editor of the Sun from Wednesday.  Have a great weekend.

Former Baltimore State's Attorney's office employee Page Croyder was a guest on the Ed Norris Show today on 105.7 FM. You can listen to what she had to say by clicking here and then by clicking on the the link that says "Former SAO employee Page Croyder".

Croyder basically said that Margaret Burns is an unethical paranoid power hungry liar who created a horrible working atmosphere in the State's Attorney's office. Croyder thought Burns should have been fired in 2003. She quoted numerous emails and memos as evidence. She also said Jessamy sold her soul for good media relations. It is perhaps the most revealing interview ever about the current regime at 111 North Calve