By Tommy Witherspoon

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Former Central Texas Baptist minister Matt Baker is asking a judge to throw out a wrongful death lawsuit against him, claiming there is no evidence to support allegations that he killed his wife and tried to make her death appear to be a suicide.

Judge Ralph Strother of Waco’s 19th State District Court has set a hearing for Thursday to consider the motion. A trial date is set for April 6.

Baker, 37, who has denied killing his wife, was arrested in September 2007 on murder charges in the April 2006 death of his wife, Kari, an elementary school teacher and the mother of his two daughters.

Matt Baker

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MATT BAKER CASE

• 09-04-09  Murder trial for former Baptist minister Matt Baker pushed back to January 
• 08-29-09  Picking Central Texas jurors for trials of pastors can be 2-edged sword 
• 05-20-09  Prosecutors subpoena Matt Baker's school records, preparing for murder trial 
• 05-15-09  Former Waco-area pastor changes attorney defending him in his wife's death 
• 04-25-09  Judge orders Matt Baker to submit DNA; rejects request for grand jury records 
• 04-22-09  Attorney for former Waco-area pastor opposes motion to get DNA from his client in murder trial 
• 04-17-09  Expert witnesses in Matt Baker case could be costly to taxpayers 
• 04-16-09  Prosecutors ask judge to order Matt Baker to submit DNA sample 
• 04-15-09  Former Waco-area pastor trying to get access to grand jury testimony in preparation for his murder trial 
• 04-11-09  Former Baptist minister Baker out of jail on $250,000 bond 
• 04-10-09  Judge approves $250,000 surety bond in Matt Baker murder case 
• 04-08-09  Former Waco-area preacher asks court to appoint defense experts in his murder trial in his wife's death 
• 04-07-09  Attorney for indicted former Waco-area pastor wants prosecutors sanctioned for behavior 
• 03-28-09  Former minister Baker who was indicted for murder transferred to Waco 
• 03-27-09  Former Waco-area Baptist minister surrenders to police on murder charge in wife's death 
• 03-26-09  Former Waco-area pastor indicted on murder charge in wife's death 
• 12-19-08  Wrongful death lawsuit against former Central Texas minister Baker pushed back 
• 12-13-08  Former Central Texas minister Matt Baker seeks dismissal of wrongful death suit because of lack of evidence 
• 07-26-08  Former minister Baker's attorney seeks delay in start of civil suit trial 
• 05-10-08  Matt Baker soliciting funds for civil suit battle over wife's death 
• 03-26-08  DA: Evidence lacking so far in Matt Baker murder case 
• 03-21-08  Ex-minister wants bond back in arrest on murder charges in wife's death 
• 03-21-08  Lawsuit refiled against former Central Texas pastor in his wife's death 
• 12-08-07  Matt Baker says rumor, innuendo fuel murder charge against him 
• 12-08-07  Arrest warrant affidavit for Matt Baker 
• 12-08-07  Death, depression and drugs: Q&A with Matt Baker 
• 10-26-07  Former minister Baker out after 3 weeks in jail 
• 10-24-07  Former minister Baker's release expected soon 
• 10-23-07  Bond reduced for man accused of killing schoolteacher wife in 2006 
• 10-19-07  Matt Baker gets high-profile legal help battling murder charge 
• 10-16-07  Couple drops civil suit in daughter's death, bets on criminal case 
• 10-03-07  Bond doubles for former local minister arrested in his wife's killing 
• 10-02-07  Former Baptist minister arrested in his wife's death moved to McLennan County Jail 
• 09-25-07  Former pastor Matt Baker still in jail on $200,000 bond 
• 09-22-07  Former local pastor arrested in wife's 2006 death 
• 09-21-07  Read the complete arrest warrant for Matt Baker 
• 09-19-07  Cause of Hewitt teacher's death ruled 'undetermined' 
• 08-30-07  Suicide or homicide? Rare inquest held into Hewitt teacher's death 
• 08-22-07  Judge sets inquest into Hewitt teacher's 2006 death 
• 03-09-07  Couple who sued in their daughter's death get more visits with their grandchildren 
• 01-11-07  Judge divides up records in wrongful death suit 
• 01-09-07  Judge considers request to quash subpoenas for records in wrongful death lawsuit 
• 09-09-06  Autopsy on Hewitt teacher inconclusive 
• 08-20-06  Teacher's body exhumed as Hewitt police reopen death investigation 

Her death initially was ruled suicide by sleeping pills, and she was buried without an autopsy or further investigation. But after her parents, James and Linda Dulin, questioned the suicide ruling, her body was exhumed for autopsy, the investigation was reopened and Justice of the Peace Billy Martin subsequently changed his ruling to “undetermined” cause of death.

Baker, who has moved with his children to Kerrville and made himself available for extensive media interviews, remains free on bond but lost his teaching job after his arrest. He is represented in the civil suit by Kerrville attorney Richard L. Ellison.

“He didn’t do it, and they have zero evidence,” Ellison said. “It is just really their opinion and suspicion. If they have any evidence, they have to show us that there is enough to keep this thing in court. Otherwise, it has to be dismissed. He is absolutely innocent, and this lawsuit should have never been filed.”

The Dulins’ attorney, Bill Johnston, says he believes he has done just that. Johnston filed an 88-page response to the summary judgment motion this week that included statements from forensic experts, psychologists, investigators, a computer expert and a jewelry store clerk who says she saw Baker and a woman shopping for engagement rings less than a month after his wife’s death.

Linda Dulin says she is not deterred by Baker and his attorney seeking to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of evidence.

“I would expect Mr. Ellison to make such a claim,” she said. “He is defending Matt Baker. However, there is strong evidence and expert opinion that link Baker to the crime. I have faith that the judge will allow this trial to move forward. Justice is about setting things right. All we want is an opportunity to share the facts and evidence with a jury.”

In Johnston’s response to the dismissal motion, he alleges that Baker, who served as minister at several churches in Central Texas and as youth minister at the Waco Center for Youth, killed his wife while pursuing a relationship with another woman.

He conducted Internet searches concerning sleeping pills and overdoses and ordered medication from online pharmacies, according to the response. Kari Baker suspected that Matt Baker was having an affair and found crushed pills in his briefcase four days before her death, the response claims. It adds that “her husband’s explanation regarding the pills was nonsensical.”

Kari Baker told a counselor three days before her death that she thought Matt Baker was going to kill her.

On the night she died, Matt Baker says he left their Hewitt residence about 11:15 p.m. to get a movie and some refreshments. He has said that she was awake and talking to him when he left, according to the court documents.

He has said he returned about 45 minutes later to find his wife dead. Baker has said that he found a typed, unsigned note by her bed and that he tried to resuscitate her before dressing his wife’s nude body in the “approximately three minutes which passed before medical personnel arrived,” the response alleges.

Johnston’s response also includes statements from experts and other witnesses who reportedly will testify that:

* Kari Baker did not die of a drug overdose.

* Kari Baker had been dead “significantly longer” than Matt Baker’s story would allow.

* Matt Baker did not dress Kari Baker before her body was found.

* Matt Baker performed Internet searches at work for death by overdose and Ambien, a sleeping aid found in Kari Baker’s system.

* Kari Baker’s behavior was not consistent with someone contemplating suicide.

While the civil lawsuit is proceeding, the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office continues work on the criminal case, which District Attorney John Segrest has said was “not suitable” to seek an indictment as initially presented to his office by Hewitt police.

“Because there was no autopsy done on the cause of death as is customary in a criminal case, our office is having to go back and look at things that were left undone at the time,” said Crawford Long, Segrest’s first assistant. “We are currently awaiting the results of forensic evidence that is being tested as part of this investigation.”

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737