The man Mayor Sheila Dixon tried to get released from jail to attend his son?s funeral was sentenced Tuesday to five years behind bars for a handgun violation.
Charles Murel, 20, and co-defendant Kevin Dorsey, 20, were both sentenced for being felons in possession of handguns after pleading guilty Monday.
Earlier this month, Dixon, through her chief of staff, attempted to free Murel to attend the funeral of Charles Murel III, who was only 3 when he was struck and killed by two cars June 30. A judge denied Dixon?s request.
Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office spokeswoman Margaret Burns called Dixon?s request for Murel?s supervised release “inconsistent” with the mayor?s statements about getting tough on gun crime.
“The action to intervene in an attempt to release a defendant on violent crime charges is inconsistent,” she said. “This is another successful prosecution by our gun team. It?s a significant amount of time he?ll be off the streets of Baltimore.”
In March, Dixon called for the creation of a data analysis system, GunStat, to measure the city?s success in combating gun crime. The mayor also has sought legislation for a gun offender registry and helped form a multi-jurisdictional gun task force.
Baltimore police union President Paul Blair said Dixon?s “humanitarian” move confused many rank-and-file officers.
“It shows the mixed messages from City Hall,” Blair said. “They say, ?We want you go to after people with guns. But if something happens to his family, we?ll see if we can get him out.? ”
Anthony McCarthy, Dixon?s spokesman, said the mayor has moved on.
“Her staff made an inquiry. The judge said ?no,? and we let it go,” he said. “We can?t allow this to be used as a political football when there are so many serious issues for the mayor to be dealing with every day.”
