Mrs. Jessamy was born the seventh of eight children, on a farm in the Mississippi Delta. Despite being raised in a rural, poor, and segregated environment, her parents instilled in her the desire for an education and the encouragement to succeed. She attended high school in Hollandale, Mississippi, graduating in 1966. She graduated from Jackson State University in 1970 with a degree in History and Political Science and was awarded her Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi in 1974.

She fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming a lawyer in May 1974 when she began her legal career in Cleveland, Mississippi. Her passion for the law and her career goal to become a lawyer followed her parents’ involvement in the civil rights movement. It was crystallized when as a 16-year old teenager, Patricia Coats became a plaintiff in a federal court action filed by her parents under the Federal Public Accommodations Act. Her parents, as did the other parents who filed suit, wanted their children to be treated as equals in all places of public accommodation throughout Mississippi, including lunch counters in Hollandale, Mississippi.

Mrs. Jessamy practiced law in Mississippi for several years and as a private attorney, on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, won representation for black residents in Grenada, Mississippi. She later went on to practice law in Michigan and Missouri before moving to Maryland.

Since becoming State’s Attorney, Mrs. Jessamy has reorganized the office to deliver more efficient services to the citizens of Baltimore.  She has instituted vertical prosecution for all felony cases.  The same attorney now handles a case from felony charging through arraignment and trial.  She has expanded the Homicide Division and created the Firearms Investigation Violence Enforcement (FIVE) Division to prosecute all gun violations and non-fatal shooting cases.  She has prioritized domestic violence cases and created a Felony Family Violence Division, focusing on children who have witnessed violence and domestic violence victims.  She has established a Management Information Division (MIS) that has designed and implemented a fully integrated computer network for the office.  She has added a graphics section and her MIS staff has been responsible for coordinating connectivity between all criminal justice agencies in the city.  In 2006, she created a new Collateral Unit to handle post-conviction matters. 

Her employees know her for the firm principle that guides the work in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office: “We review all criminal cases individually and independently based on the law, the facts and the evidence.”  The office motto is “Working Together We Can Make A Difference.”

The community is well acquainted with Mrs. Jessamy’s crime-fighting strategy known as the three-pronged approach to crime: prevention, treatment, and law enforcement.  She is involved in prevention efforts and visits with middle and high school students in her office during courthouse tours coordinated by the Community Services Division.  She serves as president of Partnership for Learning, Inc., a juvenile reading program and the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Inc., a child advocacy program that coordinates the multidisciplinary investigation of child sexual abuse cases.  Both of these 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations started as grants to the State’s Attorney’s Office, but now function independently, as vital programs providing services to youth in Baltimore.

Mrs. Jessamy is on the Board of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), serves as the Treasurer of the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association and is a member of the Board of the American Prosecutor’s Research Institute (APRI).  She is on the executive committee of HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, the Baltimore Substance Abuse System, the State Ceasefire Council, and is a member of the Baltimore Criminal Justice Coordination Council.

As a drug treatment proponent, the State’s Attorney’s Office is an active participant in Drug Treatment Court for adults and juveniles.  She is also active in numerous other community, religious, civic and social organizations.  She has served on the boards of the United Way of Central Maryland and the Family League, and as co-chair and the Elijah Cummings Youth in Israel Program.  She is a member of Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church, the Dubois Circle, The Reviewers Book Club, The Baltimore Chapter of the Link’s Inc., and a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP.

Mrs. Jessamy has received national recognition for her public service efforts and has worked with the US Department of Justice and the National District Attorneys Association to address issues of witness intimidation, identity theft, and human trafficking.

Mrs. Jessamy has also been recognized and honored by numerous legal and civic organizations.  She is a role model and a mentor, especially of young women.  Like Winston Churchill, Mrs. Jessamy believes “We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.”  Mrs. Jessamy believes in giving her time, her talents, and her treasure to make the Baltimore Community better.  She practices what she preaches.

She lives in Baltimore with her husband, Howard.

Click here to view the three-pronged approach to crime (pdf format)