Even if it was bought and paid for, a vote cannot be used as evidence of wrongdoing against an elected official, Circuit Court Judge Dennis M. Sweeney ruled Thursday, ending the entire case against Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton and dismissing some of the charges against Mayor Sheila Dixon, the former City Council president.
The ruling centered on the little-known but centuries-old legal precedent of legislative immunity, which protects lawmakers from seeing their official work used against them in civil or criminal cases. The doctrine has proved controversial, particularly among federal prosecutors who have been stymied by it in numerous public corruption cases.
Sweeney, a retired Howard County judge presiding over the trio of Baltimore corruption cases, found that the state prosecutor was wrong to use votes and other legislative acts, such as favorable reports on bills, by Holton and Dixon to make his case before a city grand jury, which ultimately indicted them.
Legislative immunity - referred to federally as the "speech and debate clause" - can be traced to 16th-century British Parliament and has particularly deep roots in Maryland. Almost every state has similar protections for legislators, and Maryland's Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1867, explicitly prohibits courts from using state lawmakers' work against them.
State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh said he will likely appeal the dismissal of Holton's case and is evaluating what to do in Dixon's. One option could be to seek new indictments without using the tainted evidence.
Holton was accused of billing developer Ronald H. Lipscomb for a $12,500 political poll in exchange for helping him secure tax breaks on multimillion-dollar city projects.
The dropped charges against Dixon were for perjury and misconduct in office for failing to report gifts she accepted from Lipscomb. Other charges of theft and misconduct in office, for allegedly taking gift cards meant for the poor, remain.
And Lipscomb will still face trial for allegedly bribing Holton. In fact, her votes can be used as evidence in his case because he's not an elected official.
To act without fear
Stephen H. Sachs, a former Maryland Attorney General and federal prosecutor, said the point of the protection for elected officials is to "assert the independence of the legislator."
