The parents of Matt Baker’s murdered wife filed for custody of Baker’s two daughters Monday.

Meanwhile, Baker, convicted last month of killing his wife, Kari, lost his bid Monday to replace his appellate attorney.

James and Linda Dulin, Kari Baker’s parents, filed suit Monday to modify custody arrangements for 13-year-old Kensi and 9-year-old Grace, who have been living with their father and paternal grandparents in Kerrville for the past 3 1/2 years.

Matt Baker heads back to jail after a hearing Monday.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald

Baker, 38, was sentenced to 65 years in prison last month in the April 2006 suffocation and drugging death of Kari Baker, the girls’ mother. He remains in the McLennan County Jail awaiting transfer to prison.

The Dulins pledged to seek custody of the girls and make them their first priority at the completion of Baker’s trial. The Dulins currently get a 48-hour visit with the girls the second weekend of each month but haven’t spent time with them since November.

The girls are scheduled to visit the Dulins this weekend, said Baker’s mother, Barbara Baker.

“I knew this was coming. We just didn’t know when,” Barbara Baker said Monday. “We will respond to it.”

Barbara Baker said she and her husband, Oscar, currently are in talks with two or three attorneys, adding that they will hire one soon to represent them in the custody battle. After they select an attorney, they will seek to move the case to a state district court in Kerr County, she said.

Baker, a former Baptist minister, gave his parents guardianship and power of attorney before his murder trial started in Waco last month. If asked by a judge where they want to live, the girls will say they want to stay in Kerrville, Barbara Baker said.

“They have a good set of friends that they have had for nearly four years now in school, and they are in good classes with good friends,” Barbara Baker said. “They are involved in sports, community activities, church activities, and the thought of changing all that terrifies them.”

The girls are convinced that their mother committed suicide and that their father has been wrongfully convicted, she said.

Matt Baker walks into 19th State District Court in Waco for a hearing Dec. 30, 2009, with his daughters, Kensi (left) and Grace.
Duane A. Laverty photo

The custody petition, filed on the Dulins’ behalf in 170th State District Court by Waco attorney Darren Obenoskey, says that the “children’s present circumstances will significantly impair the children’s physical health or emotional development.”

James Dulin declined comment Monday and said his wife was not available for comment.

Linda Dulin has said that she thinks the Bakers have poisoned the girls’ minds and taught them to hate the Dulins.

In a brief hearing Monday morning, 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother denied Baker’s request to replace his appellate attorney, Stan Schwieger, with another lawyer.

Baker, who came to court wearing jail coveralls with closely cropped hair and a three-day beard, had complained in a letter to the judge last week that Schwieger was “refusing to represent me appropriately in a post-conviction motion (for new trial).”

Strother told Baker that he has an absolute right to hire any attorney he wants to represent him on appeal. However, when the taxpayers foot the bill for a court-appointed attorney, “you don’t get to choose,” the judge said.

Strother added that Schwieger is an “excellent attorney.”

Schwieger, who is experienced in filing state and federal appeals, declined comment after the hearing Monday.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

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