The parents of a Hewitt teacher who allege their son-in-law killed their daughter are entitled to Matt Baker’s phone, employment and computer records from the Waco Center for Youth that they claim will prove he was having an affair when his wife died, a judge ruled Wednesday.

In a ruling based on a hearing Monday in an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit filed against Baker by James and Linda Dulin, 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother denied in part and granted in part Baker’s motion to block the Dulins’ access to certain records.

Some of the records sought by the Dulins and their attorney, Bill Johnston, date back 15 years to when Baker, a Baptist minister and former chaplain at the Waco Center for Youth, was a Baylor University student.

The Dulins allege in the July lawsuit that their 31-year-old daughter, Kari Baker, did not commit suicide, as local officials ruled at the time without ordering an autopsy. The lawsuit alleges she was killed by her husband and he made her April death appear to be suicide.

Strother granted a motion to quash subpoenas Johnston issued for hospital and other medical records relating to the March 22, 1999, death of the Bakers’ 18-month-old daughter, Kassidy, who underwent surgery for a brain tumor but was home from the hospital at the time of her death.

Mike McNamara, a private investigator working with Johnston on the case, testified Monday there is “some basis to suspect foul play” in Kassidy’s death because of “similarities” between her and her mother’s deaths.

“I do not believe the information sought is relevant to the subject matter of this litigation, and it is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” the judge wrote in his ruling concerning Kassidy’s records.

Gerald Villarrial, who is representing Baker with Waco attorney James Rainey, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision.

“I was happy about the ruling, particularly about the records relating to Kassidy’s death,” he said. “Her death was tragic and really was the impetus for how this whole thing got started. Her death was the reason Kari went into depression and ultimately led to her committing suicide. That is painful to Matt Baker, and to bring up Kassidy’s death in a lawsuit after all these years is painful to him also.”

Linda Dulin said Monday that her daughter was not depressed at the time of her death and would not have committed suicide.

Johnston told the judge Monday that they were seeking records from Baker’s employment at the Waco Center for Youth so that they could check phone and computer records for any contact he had with a woman with whom he was having an affair at the time of his wife’s death.

In another portion of his ruling, Strother ordered officials from Baylor University, Crossroads Baptist Church, Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Robinson, Williams Creek Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Riesel and Dallas North Lake Baptist Church to submit documents relating to Baker’s employment or student records to the judge.

The judge said he would inspect the records and decide which, if any, Johnston would be allowed to review.

McNamara testified Monday that Baker raped a woman while both were students at Baylor in 1991. He also claimed that Baker left several jobs “under awkward circumstances” after allegations of inappropriate behavior with underage girls.

“How do all these bad acts, if they occurred, relate to whether he murdered his wife?” Strother asked Johnston during Monday’s hearing.

Johnston said he hopes the records will prove that Baker engaged in a long-standing pattern of behavior that will convince a civil-court jury he is capable of murdering his wife.

Villarrial and Rainey claim Johnston is engaged in an improper “fishing expedition” because he lacks hard evidence to prove the lawsuit allegations.

Johnston said Wednesday he thinks the judge’s ruling was fair and proper, adding that it was not a setback to his case.

“Obviously, we are looking for materials that span a great length of time, and every time you do that, we realize that the judge has to place certain limitations. We trust the judge to look at the other materials and decide what is relevant, and then we will move forward from there.”

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

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