Baltimore City Council member James Kraft criticized city State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy on Tuesday, saying she looks for excuses to drop cases, rather than prosecute them.
“Everything that?s wrong with the criminal justice system in Baltimore is everybody?s fault but the state?s attorney,” Kraft said. “It?s easy to drop cases and blame everybody else.”
Kraft?s comments came in response to a series of articles The Examiner has written about misdemeanor arrests made by the Baltimore City police department. On Tuesday, an article showed that the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office drops criminal cases at quicker rates than other jurisdictions.
Baltimore City prosecutors dropped 51 percent of their district court criminal cases in 2005, higher than surrounding prosecutors. Harford and Carroll counties dropped the fewest percent of cases ? 15 percent. Howard County dropped 31 percent of cases, while Baltimore County dropped 26 percent. In that article, Margaret Burns, a spokeswoman for Jessamy, said city prosecutors face uphill battles in many cases because of dubious police charges and officers and witnesses who do not show up for trial.
Kraft, a well-known defense attorney in the area who has clashed in the past with Jessamy, said those statements amount to “excuses.”
“They?ve been undermining the police for the last year,” Kraft said. “In Baltimore, a defense attorney?s best friend is the state?s attorney. A defense attorney can say, ?My client is just one more person they?ve been arresting illegally.? ”
But Burns said prosecutors are handcuffed by the a lack of evidence in many cases. “Without witnesses and the evidence we need to convict, the case can?t go forward,” she said. “We have to proceed based on the law, the facts and the evidence. Without sworn witness testimony, we don?t have a case.”
Baltimore City police spokesman Matt Jablow said the department did not want to air differences with the State?s Attorney?s Office publicly.
“Commissioner (Leonard) Hamm feels strongly that operational problems between the two agencies must be addressed directly, and not through the media,” he said.
He added that the approximately 4,000 officers who did not show up for trials in 2005 represent only about 2.3 percent of more serious felony cases. Police spokespeople in Howard and Baltimore counties, home of the next highest number of dropped cases, said they have strong working relationships with their state?s attorneys.
“I?ve seen a great collaborative spirit between our investigators and the state?s attorney,” said Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey. “The prosecutors do a great job.”
