Former Central Texas minister Matt Baker went 0-3 in pretrial motions Friday, being forced to give a DNA sample before he left the McLennan County Courthouse without the transcript he was seeking of what his alleged former girlfriend told the grand jury last month.

Baker, 37, former chaplain at the Waco Center for Youth, is charged in the April 2006 alleged drugging and suffocation death of his wife, Kari, a teacher and the mother of his two daughters. He remains free on bond and is living in Kerrville.

Baker’s attorney, Richard Ellison, had opposed a state’s motion to compel Baker to give a DNA sample, saying it would violate his right against unlawful search and seizure without a warrant.

Judge Ralph Strother of Waco’s 19th State District Court ruled Friday that Baker must submit to a swab of the inside of his cheek, saying that the indictment against him is probable cause for the action.

In another motion, Baker was seeking a transcript of Vanessa Bulls’ March 25 grand jury testimony. Authorities have said Baker was pursuing a relationship with Bulls and gave her his wife’s cell phone shortly after her death. Witnesses also have told authorities that they spotted Baker and Bulls looking at engagement rings within days of Kari Baker’s death, which initially was ruled a suicide by sleeping pill overdose.

Strother ruled that grand jury testimony is secret and that Baker has shown no “particularized” need for a transcript.

Baker has denied killing his wife and has said that he and Bulls were just friends. He said they were looking at earrings for his daughters at a jewelry store when someone saw them and mistakenly thought they were looking at engagement rings.

Strother also quashed a subpoena that Ellison had issued for Waco psychologist Lee Carter’s records pertaining to his involvement in the civil wrongful-death lawsuit against Baker filed by Kari Baker’s parents, James and Linda Dulin. The judge said that civil rules of discovery don’t apply in criminal cases.

The judge also instructed prosecutors Crawford Long and Susan Shafer to meet with Ellison to see if they can agree on which items of evidence the defense is entitled to see, such as witness statements, lab reports and other evidence.

Strother has set a tentative trial date for the murder case for September.

The prosecutors have not revealed why they wanted the DNA sample from Baker or to what they intend to compare it.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

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