Jury Selection

H aving failed during the trial in their attempts to demonize the prosecution, Mayor Sheila Dixon's lawyers shifted tactics in the motions for a new trial they filed Friday and sought to demonize the jury, the 12 men and women who spent 40 hours over seven days in a painstaking debate over the guilt or innocence of Baltimore's most prominent elected official. In the telling of attorney Arnold Weiner and his colleagues, the jurors all but engaged in a criminal conspiracy of their own to deny the mayor a fair trial.

Testimony during jury selection Shawana Tyler, Juror No. 3, shown gesturing, said she had no dealings with Sheila Dixon and did not know former city staffer Mary Pat Fannon, right, a witness in the case. But this and other Baltimore Sun photos show Tyler with Dixon and/or Fannon after winning a 2006 sweepstakes. Shiron Davis, Juror No. 6, said she had not been charged with a crime, but records show she was accused in 2007 of forging her sister's name on six checks. Interaction between jurors The judge had told jurors to "not engage in any discussions with each other."

The Maryland State Prosecutor enlisted a private consultant to help select the jury that will weigh the theft charges against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, a potentially costly move that is unusual for prosecutors in criminal cases. Ronald Matlon, a well-known trial consultant and former Towson University professor, assisted prosecutors in the courtroom during the two-day jury selection process that ended Tuesday, State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh said. Rohrbaugh would not disclose Matlon's fees or say how long the consultant has been involved with the case.

Mayor Sheila Dixon stood before a judge for the first time Monday, the beginning of a long day of jury selection in her criminal theft trial that will resume this morning. After the mayor's lawyers entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf, much of the opening-day action was conducted out of the earshot of the courtroom audience. For hours, the mayor huddled with defense lawyers and prosecutors at the bench, interviewing potential jurors, while loudspeakers piped white noise into the room.

After watching Mayor Sheila Dixon stand for four hours straight at the judge's bench, next to the mostly male lawyers prosecuting her and those defending her, I thought of that famous line about Ginger Rogers. The one about how she did everything her much more renowned dance partner Fred Astaire did, only backward and in high heels. I don't mean to reduce Dixon to her four-inch black pumps. But then, Dixon is not only Baltimore's first female mayor, but its first to be in office and on trial simultaneously.

Today begins the process of choosing 12 Baltimore residents who will decide whether or not their mayor is a criminal. As Sheila Dixon's theft trial gets under way, jury selection is not only the curtain-raiser, but also, perhaps, the most important act, according to experts and lawyers not involved in the case. Race and politics will play critical roles, outside observers say. Dixon's defense team will want jurors who like their mayor and the work she has done, while prosecutors are apt to favor those who will dispassionately review the evidence they present, the observers say. Dixon, an African-American woman born and raised in West Baltimore, leads a majority-black, heavily Democratic city.