Jessamy

To counter a wave of verbal attacks against the prosecutor's office, the chief spokeswoman for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy lambasted Baltimore's mayor yesterday in a caustic statement that accused Martin O'Malley of "hoodwinking" the public and "failing miserably" to reduce crime. "Today our office is drawing a line in the sand that it will not stand idly by while the mayor and the police continue to delude the public with the fact that things are better because from our vantage point they are not," said Margaret T. Burns, who called a news conference to criticize the mayor.

UNTIL A certain day in April of last year, Patricia C. Jessamy, the state's attorney of Baltimore, bore neither blame nor minor complicity in the long and wrong incarceration of Michael Austin. Jessamy was but 22 years old, a year out of the University of Mississippi Law School, at the time Austin went to prison, convicted of killing a security guard in a Baltimore convenience store holdup. Jessamy had nothing to do with his prosecution. She had no reason to feel self-conscious or defensive as new evidence indicated that Austin was innocent, the victim of a flawed trial back during the Ford administration.

In the increasingly unpredictable world of the 1998 elections, here's one sure bet: Patricia C. Jessamy will remain in office as Baltimore's top prosecutor.That's because no one signed up by Monday night's filing deadline to oppose Jessamy in either the Democratic primary or November's general election.Jessamy -- a longtime deputy who was appointed city state's attorney in 1995 after her boss got a high-level state job -- said she was "very pleased" to have a clear path in her first election.

Mayor Martin O'Malley's administration followed through on a promise yesterday to provide nearly $2 million in new funding to the state's attorney's office to pay for programs that were set to expire at the end of the year. Without discussion, the Board of Estimates approved a $1.96 million supplemental appropriation for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. The money was drawn from a surplus in the city's general fund. The two officials, who have had a strained relationship, struck a deal in June to fund the continuation of initiatives related to juvenile crime, domestic violence and gun prosecutions.

THIS WAS supposed to be the column in which I defended, kind of, Mayor Martin O'Malley against charges that he offended all black women when he delivered his public, profanity-laced tirade against Baltimore State's Attorney Pat Jessamy, who is black and female. That was before I went to the Wednesday night vigil in which at least 100 black women, a couple of dozen black men and quite a few whites gathered in front of City Hall. They held up signs, some of which read "Mr. Mayor, African-American women will not be devalued," "Mr. Mayor, African-American women will not tolerate profanity," "Mr. Mayor, African-American women demand respect" and "Mr. Mayor, No more profanity."

Deputy State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is building support to become Baltimore's next top prosecutor, even as a former city state's attorney seeks to reclaim his job and a young city councilman campaigns as the candidate for change.The scramble to replace State's Attorney Stuart O. Simms began in earnest this week, sparked by the announcement that he is taking a Cabinet post in the Glendening administration.William A. Swisher, state's attorney from 1974 to 1982, and Martin O'Malley, a 31-year-old councilman who is making public safety his cause, join Ms. Jessamy in seeking the $97,900-a-year job.Three other lawyers also are considering a run for the opening, which is to be advertised starting next week.

WHAT ARE LISA Stancil's chances of wresting the state's attorney's office away from incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy this election year? "It's not about chance," she'll tell you without the slightest trace of fake humility but more than a barrelful of confidence. "I will be the next state's attorney for Baltimore City." Stancil was sitting this day in the office of her campaign headquarters in the 2100 block of Charles St. She sat behind a desk and chatted with the annoying columnist. She wore a skirt-and-jacket outfit that was shocking red: perhaps the better to announce the shock she plans to pull off this September by winning the Democratic primary for state's attorney.

When Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy appeared on a local talk show recently, she compared her understaffed office to an army without enough weapons, fighting a losing battle against violent criminals. Last week, she received more firepower. The state rushed her nearly $800,000 of grant funds to hire prosecutors to go after gun-wielding criminals. The city has promised up to $2.3 million more. The question now is whether she can win the war. All eyes will be on Jessamy in coming months to see whether additional staff members help stop the city's revolving-door justice.

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said yesterday that she will not run for mayor.Jessamy ended two months of speculation over whether she would join the seven-candidate Democratic field trying to succeed departing Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in December.The 50-year-old prosecutor, who won re-election to a four-year term last year unopposed, said fighting crime is more important than seeking higher office."The state's attorney's office is underfunded and understaffed," Jessamy said in announcing her decision.

The on-again, off-again public spat between Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is on again, prompted by a blistering letter Jessamy sent to Esquire magazine deriding its laudatory article about O'Malley. Jessamy's two-page letter, sent to Esquire on Friday, is in response to an article in the magazine's "Best and Brightest" issue dubbing O'Malley "the best young mayor in America." The issue hit the newsstands last week. The magazine piece says O'Malley is dashing, frenetic and constructively explosive, while it says Jessamy "embodies the old-line culture of excuses."