Convicted murderer Matt Baker is asking a judge to appoint a new attorney to handle the appeal of his conviction for killing his wife.

Judge Ralph Strother of Waco’s 19th State District Court has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning to consider the former Central Texas pastor’s request to replace Waco attorney Stan Schwieger as his appellate attorney.

Strother got a letter Thursday morning from Baker that said Baker is “dismissing” Schwieger, his court-appointed attorney, based on “numerous inconsistent statements to both my power of attorney (mother) and personal consultant.”

A hearing is cheduled for Monday morning to consider the request of former Central Texas pastor Matt Baker to replace his appellate attorney.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald, file

While Schwieger had not filed a motion to withdraw as counsel Thursday, Strother said the attorney has talked to him about getting off the case and intends to file a motion before Monday’s hearing.

Schwieger, an experienced appellate attorney in state and federal court, declined comment on Baker’s request Thursday.

Defendants have 30 days from the date of sentencing to file a motion for new trial. If they forgo that avenue, then they normally file a direct appeal with an intermediate appellate court, such as Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals.

Baker, 38, was sentenced to 65 years in prison Jan. 21 in the April 2006 suffocation and drugging death of his wife, Kari, a teacher and the mother of his two daughters. He claimed that she was depressed and committed suicide, leaving a typed, unsigned note by the bed.

Baker’s letter says he wants to fire Schwieger “due to his refusing to represent me appropriately in a post-conviction motion (i.e. motion for new trial).”

Baker’s mother, Barbara Baker, said Thursday the Bakers are seeking to replace Schwieger because he reportedly told them he did not intend to file a motion for new trial, which is rarely granted.

She said he told them that he would wait for a transcript of the trial to be prepared and then file a direct appeal.

“Basically, Mr. Schwieger wasn’t going to file anything for several months,” said Barbara Baker, who called from a basketball game in Kerrville being played by one Baker’s daughters.

“He said he doesn’t know anything about the case, didn’t read anything about the case, didn’t watch it on TV, and he knows nothing about the case. He said he doesn’t want to do anything until he gets the written transcript, which could be 120 days or more.”

Baker admitted to having an affair with Vanessa Bulls, the daughter of the music minister at Crossroads Baptist Church, where Baker was minister. But he denied killing his wife.

Vanessa Bulls, Baker’s mistress who testified at his murder trial that he told her about his plan to kill his wife, has resigned from her job as a teacher at a Harker Heights school. She had been on administrative leave.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald

Bulls, 27, told jurors she began a romantic relationship with Baker after he offered to help counsel her through her divorce.

She testified Baker plotted to kill his wife, told her how he intended to do it and then went into specific details afterward — telling her that he would tell her what happened one time and then wouldn’t discuss it again.

Bulls, a teacher in Harker Heights, told the jury she was afraid that she would lose her job as a result of her involvement with Baker and her role as the star witness in the high-profile trial that drew national media attention.

She was placed on administrative leave the day after she testified and has since resigned her position, Killeen school district spokeswoman Leslie Gilmore said.

While the district accepted her letter of resignation, Bulls remains on administrative leave through the end of the school year, Gilmore said. She declined to say if Bulls is being paid while on leave.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

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