{Thanks, The Baltimore Sun}

Mayor Sheila Dixon, her attorneys and prosecutors all survived day one of jury selection for Dixon’s long awaited criminal trial. Months have passed since Dixon was originally indicted, and some had questioned whether we’d ever get to the trial phase. Now it’s up to the attorneys and the judge to pick 12 jurors who can judge the mayor impartially. Judge Dennis Sweeney called day one of jury selection successful.

During the next several days, defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge will try to assemble a group of jurors who, for all intents and purposes, are free of opinion about the mayor’s guilt or innocence. That’ll be hard to do in Baltimore. It’s not because Baltimoreans don’t care about fairness, but because it’s a politician accused of theft. You’ll be hard pressed to find many Americans in urban centers who don’t feel some kind of way about city government and its leaders.

Legal analysts and political scientists both argue that the key to a conviction or acquittal of Mayor Dixon is the makeup of the jury, with regards to two key factors: race and gender. University of Baltimore law professor Byron Warnken is quoted as saying African-American jurors may be more sympathetic to Dixon. Why? Dixon was elected Baltimore’s first female mayor and was thus the first African-American woman to rise to the city’s top office. Plenty of Baltimoreans have had some exposure to the criminal justice system which might make them distrust police or prosecutors. Also, defense attorneys might hope for female jurors who will empathize with the challenges faced by an ambitious, career-oriented, working mother. This will be key if the defense strategy argues Dixon leads a very busy schedule and could have mixed up personal gift cards with cards intended for the needy.

Prosecutors will likely be looking for jurors who have a higher level of education, thus are more apt to be analytical and to apply the law as it’s written to the circumstances before them. Prosecutors will have to contend with a mayor whose popularity is battered but high,  because, by many accounts, she’s done a decent job as mayor.

If you want more on what prosecutors and defense attorneys will be looking for, check out the January Baltimore Sun article which provides insightful analysis.

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