Friday, March 21, 2008
Matt Baker’s lawyer wants murder charges dismissed in the April 2006 death of Baker’s wife, claiming the former Baptist minister was illegally arrested in September and is entitled to recoup his $200,000 cash bail bond.
In an application for writ of habeas corpus filed Thursday in Waco’s 54th State District Court, Baker’s attorney, Guy James Gray, of Kerrville, alleges that Baker’s constitutional rights were violated because there was insufficient evidence to arrest him in the death of his 31-year-old wife, Kari, the mother of his two daughters.
Judge Matt Johnson has set an Aug. 4 hearing to consider the motion. However, courthouse officials have said the hearing might not be necessary because more than 180 days have passed since the 36-year-old Baker’s arrest and he has not been indicted. He is entitled by law to the return of a $200,000 cash bond put up to secure his release in October, officials said.
Since he is not detained and has not been indicted, the bail bond refund is the only tangible relief Baker can gain from the motion.
McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest and First Assistant District Attorney Crawford Long declined comment on the motion, saying they cannot discuss pending criminal cases.
The money for the $200,000 cash bond came from a bank loan guaranteed by a Baker family friend in Kerrville, where Baker now lives, Gray said.
Investigators have alleged that Baker had a mistress and drugged his wife and then smothered her with a pillow after she lost consciousness. Kari Baker told her therapist and at least one close friend that she suspected him of having an affair and thought he might kill her after she found crushed pills in his briefcase, investigators have said.
Baker told Hewitt police his wife committed suicide because she was depressed, never fully recovering from grief over the 1998 cancer death of a daughter, Kassidy. A judge initially ruled Kari Baker’s death a suicide, but it later was recorded as being from an “undetermined” cause after an exhumation and autopsy.
In the application for habeas corpus, Gray continued his aggressive defense of Baker, which has included making Baker available for media interviews and volunteering him for polygraph tests, police interviews or grand jury testimony.
The district attorney’s office has not accepted any of those offers.
The motion alleges that Kari Baker had at least one abortion. This reportedly added to her guilt and depression after Kassidy’s death. The application alleges, without proof, that she could have had more than one abortion.
“Kari suffered from the dual burden of the tragic loss of her child and guilt from these secret abortions,” the application states. “She was raised in an environment that considered such conduct as murder. These acts must have been, in her view, so unpardonable that she could not share her anxiety and guilt with anyone.”
Gray continued in the application, “She believed that God punished her by taking the life of Kassidy. She would say to her husband, ‘I took the life of two unborns, and he took my baby.’ Combined, the burden was too heavy to bear.”
Kari Baker’s parents, Linda and James Dulin, who refiled a wrongful death lawsuit against Baker on Thursday, reacted angrily to Gray’s assertions.
“I don’t believe Kari ever had an abortion,” Linda Dulin said. “Nothing in the papers that were filed even suggested one. Mr. Gray has made an unethical claim that can’t be backed up.”
Dulin added, “However, Jim and I loved our daughter. We were so proud to be her parents. Our love for her wasn’t conditional, no matter what happened in her life. Lies and mudslinging like Mr. Gray and Matt Baker are resorting to will backfire.”
Dulin questioned why Baker is the only one close to Kari who has said she was distraught, depressed and suicidal. Others have said she was positive, happy and looking forward to a new job.
“Matt can’t have it both ways,” Dulin said. “He can’t say he loved Kari in one breath and then disparage her time after time. Not once since her death has he said anything kind or loving about her. What does this show his daughters, Kari’s daughters?”
The Dulins’ attorney, Bill Johnston, of Waco, called the allegations in Gray’s motion a “classless, desperate act.”
“To me, it just sounds very desperate on their part, and it seems like it is irrelevant speculation,” Johnston said. “It strikes me as a tactic to scare Linda off from pursuing this case. But that lawyer doesn’t know us and her very well if he thinks that is going to scare her off.”
Gray said he is trying to be factual, saying he merely alleges that there is not enough evidence to prove the murder case.
“I don’t want to guess. I have been sticking here to the plain facts, and there is room for different interpretations from some of those documents,” Gray said. “If my facts are incorrect or if there is another explanation, I would like to know them. I do not want to pursue something that is factually inaccurate.”
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
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Comments
By JMM
Mar 25, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this
Responding to ABC's comment I cut and pasted below:
Matt has put the girls names, pictures and videos in the public eye over and over. As far as the Dulins are concerned, you can't help but mention the fact that there are two daughters in this matter. But what has been "used" for sympathy gain in poorly thought out maneuvers is video of the girls going with their grandparents to pick up Matt from jail and videotaped interviews talking to the girls about what's going on. I don't know how that can be constrewed as what's best for the girls. And don't you think they suffer pain from the horrible things said about their mother in public by Matt and his attorney....especially when they are lies?
And if Mr. Gray has any proof of their allegations, he didn't include them in the motion/writ he filed last week. Oh, there's "evidence-type" stuff in there like he was trying, but it does not show any evidence whatsoever of any abortion/s. I don't think he's stupid at all. I think he's hoping everyone that reads his motion/writ is. But it's not working out that way.
to JMM, yes, I do pray for the little girls. They have had to go through pain these last two years that no person, especially young children, should have to go through. But, the pain has been given by grandparents that continue to say bad things about their dad, and to put their names in the Waco paper. And about Mr. Gray has entered the Writ into evidence, and from that you must be assuming he does NOT have the facts to back up his claims? Think again. He is too smart to make that mistake.
By Lane
Mar 24, 2008 8:36 PM | Link to this
To: no way
Well, aren't you Ms. Christian? Smearing Kari in order to take up for a pervert. And how do you know who the one is who signed as "One of Matt's Victims"? Are you psychic too?
By Apalled
Mar 24, 2008 8:02 PM | Link to this
to huh:
You need two things:
a clue
the ability to think clearly and logically
Even more appalled
By no way
Mar 24, 2008 8:01 PM | Link to this
To "one of the victims" you need to go back and read the story that "you" or your "alto ego" gave to the different media sorces. Either you were wrong when you first tried to tell your story, or wrong now. Can't be both ways. Yes, MB did leave a couple of churches because of the behavior of his wife, and nothing to do with "victims". I know, I was in one of the churches!!
By huh?
Mar 24, 2008 7:46 PM | Link to this
To Appalled; Why would Mr. Baker have told the police? If he had, then they would have been even quicker to assume she took her own life. And how does anyone know that he did not tell his first lawyers? Maybe he loved Kari and his daughters enough that he did not want to ever have to share such sad news. If so, he is to be commended, not blasted. He is probably doing what his attorney recommends?? And about the 'girl-friend' get with it, they never was, nor are they now a 'pair'. Read the newspapers.
By One of Matt's Victims
Mar 24, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this
Well, here is a fact for all of you out there. Matt has been living a "double life" since 1991 when he assaulted me in the old training room of the Baylor Stadium; a time when he was majoring in Youth Ministry and Recreation. He admitted it to Baylor personnel and apologized to me in front of the same personnel. And I was promised by the University that he would be punished. He got by then and he continues to get by now. I find it very interesting that his story continues to change as he tells it. He has been caught in many lies with all of this but unfortunately not yet in court. So, is Matt the most unlucky person on the planet?? Why does he keep losing jobs b/c he gets accused of sexual misconduct? Maybe something to the stories?? Just another part of his life y'all might want to chew on for a bit.
By Appalled
Mar 24, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this
Baker's a scumbag. If this were true, he would have told the police. At the very least, he would have shared this with the lawyers he had in the first go-around. Shame on him. He didn't love his wife and he can't love his daughters. I hope the gal he was dating has gotten wiser and hit the road.
Apalled
By null
Mar 22, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this
to: JH
What planet are you from???? Facts???
The article even states
The application alleges, without proof, that she could have had more than one abortion.
Get with the program. If these terrible accusations were true, Baker would have brought them forward two years ago. Don't you think he would have wanted all of the information out there to clear his name???
You know what I think? I don't think you knew Kari. She didn't have this secret life for which FACTS have been provided. However, Mr. Baker ceertainly. AND evidence of such has been produced.
Have some kool-aid.
By Lane
Mar 22, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this
I know one thing--you people who say that there is NO proof--you don't know what all they have on this guy--just because he hasn't been indicted yet does not mean it will not happen. That just proves how much you DON'T know about the legal system. I agree that a lot of people are drinking cheap shot Matt Baker kool-aid.
By jh
Mar 22, 2008 3:54 PM | Link to this
As I think back to some comments Kari made while I was with her, I don't know what to believe. Now, some of the comments make more sense, that maybe she really was living a double life and had a deep, deep depression that was not visible to all. But many things make more sense hearing these latest facts. I commend Matt and his attorney on not releasing the facts until the proper time. I do not see this as Matt trying to make his wife look bad, but his attorney seeing it as the proper thing to do to show the possibilities in Kari because of her past.
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