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

757-5737