Dixon grand jury to expire; new one to be impaneled

Baltimore Examiner

The term of a grand jury hearing testimony in an investigation of Mayor Sheila Dixon is set to expire next week with several witnesses yet to testify, making it unlikely the two-year probe of her relationship with city contractors will end soon, sources said.

The term of the Baltimore City grand jury ends officially on Sept. 5, but several witnesses who have received subpoenas are still waiting to be called. Among those witnesses is Anthony McCarthy, a top former aide who worked for Dixon when she was City Council president and mayor.

The delayed testimony may indicate that state prosecutors are planning to continue their probe into City Hall corruption past the four-month term of the current grand jury. Prosecutors will have a newly impaneled slate of jurors on Sept. 10.

Attorney Dwight Pettit, who represents McCarthy, said prosecutors have not yet told him when or even if his client will be called to testify.

“I have tried to ask the question in several different ways, and they said they will let me know but have not given me any specifics,” Pettit said. “It’s very tight-lipped.”

Pettit did say a computer seized by Baltimore County police during an investigation of McCarthy for alleged inappropriate conduct while he served as the mayor’s communications director in 2007 will be returned.

Prosecutors cleared McCarthy of any wrong-doing in that case, but Petitt had sought the return of the computer after raising concerns it had been confiscated by prosecutors investigating Dixon.

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Petitt also said several other witnesses he represents whom he would not name but who have been subpoenaed by state prosecutors in the Dixon case also have had their testimony delayed and not yet rescheduled.

Dixon’s attorney, Arnold Wiener, declined to comment.

Prosecutors have been investigating Dixon’s relationship with city contractor Ron Lipscomb and the misuse of gift cards while she served as City Council president.

Dixon said she dated Lipscomb and exchanged gifts with him between late 2003 and early 2004. At the same time, she did not recuse herself from votes that benefited his companies, prosecutors said.

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Dixon’s other attorney, Dale Kelberman, had said Dixon did not need to recuse herself from those votes because Lipscomb was a subcontractor on the projects, not a general contractor, and was therefore not required to report the gifts under the city ethics code.