For Michael Mitchell, a road of ups, downs
                    Ex-Md. senator was jailed over Wedtech, disbarred

                    By Johnathon E. Briggs
                           Sun Staff
                           Originally published January 23, 2003

                    In the course of his life, former city councilman and state Sen. Michael B.
                    Mitchell, scion of Maryland's politically influential Mitchell family, has
                    alternately seen his name celebrated with distinction and sullied by
                    wrongdoing.

                    Now he is under scrutiny in a federal racketeering case in which he is not
                    a defendant but has been portrayed in testimony as a close adviser to a
                    pair of convicted drug dealers who authorities say used nightclubs to
                    disguise illegal activities.

                    Yesterday, a federal judge described him as "uncharged alleged
                    co-conspirator," and a key witness linked him to an alleged attempt at
                    witness tampering.

                    The son of civil rights leaders Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. and Juanita
                    Jackson Mitchell, Mitchell, 57, was once considered a rising star in city
                    and state politics. He was elected to the City Council in 1975, at age 29.
                    Five years later, he was being touted as a future mayoral candidate.

                    Heir to his family's proud legacy of fighting racial discrimination on the
                    picket line and in court, Mitchell preceded state Sen. Larry Young in
                    West Baltimore's 44th District. Mitchell served less than a year, losing the
                    seat when he was sent to prison in 1987 after being convicted of
                    attempting to obstruct a federal investigation of Wedtech Corp., a Bronx,
                    N.Y.-based defense contractor.

                    Mitchell and his elder brother, Clarence M. Mitchell III, collected
                    $50,000 to halt the probe spearheaded by their uncle, former Rep. Parren
                    J. Mitchell., who was unaware of his nephews' involvement.

                    A year later, Michael Mitchell was convicted in state court of stealing
                    $77,417 in insurance money from a 3-year-old son of a murder victim. As
                    part of his sentence in that case, the University of Maryland law school
                    graduate was disbarred.

                    Now out of the political spotlight, Mitchell has worked since 1999 for the
                    Maryland Transportation Authority, where he is a coordinator for a
                    program called Managing For Results.

                    But even on the sidelines, controversy has followed him.

                    Last May, an investigation by The Sun found that Parren Mitchell's bills -
                    including more than $100,000 owed to Keswick Multi-Care Center in
                    Roland Park where he receives care - have gone unpaid by Michael
                    Mitchell, who has power of attorney for his uncle.

                    Mitchell used his uncle's assets to help pay expenses related to a Pigtown
                    bar he helped run and to buy a car that his uncle said he knew nothing
                    about.

                    The Mitchells called the newspaper reports "totally false and totally
                    untrue," and filed a $251 million lawsuit against the paper and two of its
                    reporters, alleging trespassing and invasion of privacy when the reporters
                    interviewed Parren Mitchell at the nursing home.

                    Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun