When a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury convicted Derrick Taylor, 27, in February of committing a triple murder in the Remington area of the city, it wasn?t just another guilty verdict. In prosecutors? eyes, it was a sign of progress.
Indeed, statistics show the sometimes criticized Baltimore City?s State?s Attorney?s Office last year reached an eight-year high for its homicide section?s conviction rate – 65 percent.
That?s a noticeable increase from 2004, when city prosecutors gained convictions in 52 percent of murder cases.
Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy, said the percentage of murder convictions has improved because of the thoughtful study of the problems facing city prosecutors.
“In 2000 and 2001, the State?s Attorney?s Office was criticized for a number of lost cases on homicides,” Burns said. “We knew we were losing cases, but we hadn?t had a real detailed review of why.”
So prosecutors began to identify the main difficulties in seeking murder convictions, including witness intimidation, poor trial testimony from untrained police officers and a lack of initial review by prosecutors when police first file a murder charge.
“We have worked with the police department to go out and look for witnesses,” Burns said. “We?ve worked very hard on training detectives on how to be good witnesses on the stand.”
In 2006, the City State?s Attorney?s homicide division dropped murder charges filed by police in 14 percent of cases ? a three-year low ? and lost murder trials by acquittal in 11 percent of cases ? a four-year low.
Burns said tougher laws against witness intimidation have helped, but prosecutors are still wrestling with the issue.
“We continue to be frustrated by the number of witnesses that fail to appear because they are intimidated,” she said.
Percentage of murder convictions landed by the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office
2006: 65 percent
2005: 59 percent
2004: 52 percent
2003: 59 percent
2002: 59 percent
2001: 55 percent
2000: 54 percent
Source: Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office
Read more about Derrick Taylor conviction
