Baltimore is plagued by a “conspiracy of silence,” Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee in favor of tougher laws against witness intimidation.
“Witness intimidation is the No. 1 public safety issue affecting our criminal justice system in Baltimore and the nation,” Jessamy said.
Jessamy is backing a House of Delegates bill, sponsored by Keith Haynes, D-District 44, that would toughen Maryland?s law against witness intimidation to include sentences of up to 20 years, instead of five years, for many crimes against children, domestic violence and sexual assault.
Since January 2005, prosecutors have charged more than 200 criminal cases of witness threats and intimidation, Jessamy told the committee.
Jo Anne Stanton, division chief of the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Sex Offense Unit, said some of the most troubling cases of the crime she has seen involve children and victims of sexual and domestic abuse.
“In my 16-year experience with crime victims, I have found that the threats against sexual assault victims ? most of whom know their attackers ? are among the most prevalent and most insidious,” Stanton said. “… In our experience most sexual offenders and predators know exactly where their victims live, who they live with and who the victims most love. Often, the sexual predator lives there as well.”
Ellen Mugmon, a member of the steering committee for the Coalition to Protect Maryland?s Children, said the legislature?s passage of the bill would eliminate a “double standard” that now exists in Maryland law, which treats witness intimidation against adults as more important than such acts against children.
“There is no reason in the world why a child shouldn?t receive the same protection as a street thug,” Jessamy said.
