6:53 p.m. -- One more thing, defense lawyer Guy James Gray told reporters that he "felt like an idiot" for initially believing Matt Baker's story.

 

6:49 p.m. --Thanks for following the blog and, again, for all of your nice comments. I will live-blog any upcoming proceedings that might take place in the Dulin's fight for the custody of Matt and Kari's two daughters, Kensi, 13, and Grace, 9.  

 

6:42 p.m. -- I wanted to remind you that Matt Baker was sentenced to 65 years in a state prison. He will be eligible for parole after he serves half of his sentence. He is 38 years old. Barbara Baker, Matt Baker's mother, told Tommy Witherspoon that they don't have enough money to file an appeal.  

 

6:30 p.m. --I talked with Lora Mueller, the former Baylor University athletic trainer who flew to Waco today from Long Island, New York to testify that Matt Baker had tried to rape her in the locker room of Floyd Casey Stadium in the early 90s. She says that no one she told at Baylor believed her and she, eventually, had to leave the university in the middle of a semester. She says that the incident still haunts her in her dreams. Mueller, 37, says that she is leaving Waco "a new woman." She says: "I think I can pretty much close the door now. It sounds weird, but it was the best thing for me." She says that Matt Baker only looked at her once when she testified, but said she believes that Linda Dulin's victim impact statement got through to him. "I think Linda's words may have finally hit him," she says. Baker looked to the floor during most of Dulin's 5ish-minute statement, but looked up a few times at her.

 

6:23 p.m. -- All of the jurors left without commenting. Tommy Witherspoon spoke with both the attorneys for the defense and the prosecution. I haven't talked in-depth with Tommy yet to find out what they said.

 

6:18 p.m. -- Matt Baker's defense attorney, Guy James Gray, told Tommy WItherspoon that he found out that about 30 days before the trial, his client had lied to him about his affair with Vanessa Bulls. Gray says that he felt Baker got a fair trial, but thought there was "technical reasonable doubt."

 

6:17 p.m. -- The jurors are still in the jury room talking with Judge Strother.

 

6:15 p.m.-- Neither Jim and Linda Dulin, Kari Baker's parents, nor Barbara Baker had any comment for reporters. A 40ish-year-old female juror left the courtroom sobbing.

 

6:12 p.m. -- Before Baptist minister Matt Baker was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies, the 38-year-old turned to his mother, Barbara, and said: "Love you, mom. Take care of Kensi and Grace."

 

5:57 p.m. -- I'm so sorry. I lost what I had written from the victim impact statement given by Kari's best friend, Jill. I have no idea what happened with this computer. I'm so frustrated about losing it, though. The gag order has been lifted so I'm going to talk to some people. Be back soon.

 

5:52 p.m. --Kari Baker's mother, Linda Dulin, delivers her victim impact statement. She tells her son-in-law to look at her. Linda Dulin says: "You took her from us, Matt. You discarded her like she was yesterday's trash. You murdered the mother of your children. ...You really can't look at me, can you?" He looks up from the floor and looks at her. "You took (Kensi and Grace's) mother and then fed them lies. ...Thank goodness this journey doesn't end here. ...You see, Matt, you were never going to win this one. You spent your life preying on innocent people. ...But love trumps evil. Do you hear me, Matt? Love trumps evil." She continues: "(When I see Kari again) she's going to run toward me and knock me over and smother me with kisses. ...God told us he would never forsake us and he hasn't. We have felt his arms around us through this entire process. ...We are so very blessed. We are blessed. So, what do we do now? Well, first we thank God for bringing us here to this place. ...But next, Jim and I commit our lives to Kensi and Grace. ...We can't give them back their mother, but we want, more than anything in this world, for them to be whole and healthy. You poisoned them. You taught them to hate. But it won't last. It won't last." She continues: "You have to spend many years in prison. What you did was horrific. It was horrific, Matt. And I believe you're capable of much more evil." Matt Baker shakes his head. She continues: "But....we have to step out and forgive. So, we do. We forgive. Because that's the only way, Matt. ...Love trumps evil."

 

5:39 p.m. -- Matt Baker showed no emotion.

 

5:38 p.m. -- When Strother asks whether there is any legal reason that the sentence should not be enforced, Matt Baker says: "I truly believe in my innocence. I believe the jury made a mistake."

 

5:34 p.m. -- The jury sentences Matt Baker to a sentence of: 65 YEARS and no fine.

 

5:33 p.m. -- Sheriff's deputies escorted Matt Baker into the courtroom. He is wearing handcuffs connected to his waist. The jury is being brought in.

 

5:29 p.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury has reached a verdict. Matt Baker has not yet been brought into the courtroom.

 

5:26 p.m. -- Judge Ralph Strother's courtroom fills up, even though no one knows if this is the verdict. Cameramen line the hallway that sheriff's deputies will walk Matt Baker through.

 

5:24 p.m. -- I think the jury just passed a note. Not sure if this is the verdict.

 

5:12 p.m. -- Matt Baker is in a holding cell on the third floor of the courthouse. According to one of the sheriff's deputies, the cell is about 4-foot by 6-foot and has a bench, table, toilet and sink in it.

 

5:04 p.m. -- I'll take this time to answer as many questions as I can. I have to say, first, thank you so much for the nice comments. It really means a lot to me that some of you took time out of your day to say such nice things to me.

 

Matt Baker is being held in a small cell on the third-floor. I've never actually seen the cell. I'll go ask one of the bailiffs what it is like and I'll be right back.

 

4:57 p.m. -- Again, we're still here. No verdict yet. Matt Baker is in the custody of sheriff's deputies. Barbara Baker, his mother, is sitting on a second-row pew in the courtroom by herself. Jim and Linda Dulin, Kari Baker's parents are in the hallway talking with friends and relatives. There are at least 20 people here on the Dulin's side.

 

4:36 p.m. -- The jury is still deliberating. I just went to ask Judge Strother order whether the gag order is still in effect for witnesses who have testified. He said that it is. Otherwise, I'd try to have some commentary here. Like yesterday, stay with the blog. I will report the jury's verdict as soon as the judge reads it. I will also blog Linda Dulin's victim impact statement. When she testified, she spoke slowly and I had no problem writing her statement verbatim. I hope that's the case today.

 

4 p.m. -- A victim's family, by the way, has the right to make a victim impact statement at sentencing. In the statement, a family member or friend, will stand up and speak directly to the offender about the impact of the crime the person has committed on the family. Sometimes they are prepared statements, and other times, they're not. Linda Dulin will deliver the statement for Kari Baker's family, she said.

 

3:50 p.m. -- There is another murder trial that is in its punishment phase in Judge Matt Johnson's 54th State District Court, which is adjacent to Judge Strother's courtroom. So, the third-floor is busy. The wooden benches on the third floor are full, and people are talking in small groups. Matt Baker is in the custody of sheriff's deputies because his bond was revoked yesterday after jurors returned a guilty verdict. His mother, Barbara, who calls her and her son, "the Baker duet," was in the hallway. Jim and Linda Dulin, Kari Baker's parents, are seated at a table in the first-floor break room. Linda Dulin says she will give a victim impact statement.

 

3:15 p.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury begins their deliberations in the punishment phase of the trial. They began deliberating in the guilt/innocence phase almost exactly 25 hours ago. It took the jury seven and a half hours to reach a verdict.

 

3:12 p.m. -- Shafer calls Matt Baker a "sociopath." She is talking about Baker's daughters, and how she worries for them being brainwashed by their father. Shafer says "We're not worried about a fine. We just want a good, long sentence. We want to send a message to any men out there who are like Matt -- and I don't think there are many. You can't just erase a life and be out with a slap on the wrist." Shafer advises the jurors to look back on Kari Baker's last moments and what her thoughts may have been. "We look forward to your verdict," she says.

 

3:03 p.m. -- Assistant District Attorney Susan Shafer approaches the jury box for her closing statements. "I think the best of Matt is Grace and Kensi," Shafer says of the Bakers' daughters, aged 9 and 13, respectively. Shafer says Matt Baker destroyed their family. She says that she thinks of what Kari Baker was thinking when she took her last breath. Shafer's voice cracks when she says, "I know I would be thinking, 'Are my children alright?'" Shafer says: "It's hard to a person more narcissistic" than Matt Baker. She says she's prosecuted against "horrible people" who have done "horrible things," but she can't find anything good to say about Matt Baker. Shafer says that Kari Baker still loved her husband at the time he killed her, and how he was "laughing at her behind her back." Shafer says that Matt Baker was assaulting women before and after Kari Baker. "Can you imagine that Kari is in the ICU with Kassidy and her husband is hitting on her cousin's 20-year-old friend in the waiting room?" Shafer says: "And he has this cult of people who still believe in him. ...That's why he's still so dangerous."

 

3 p.m. -- Defense lawyer Harold Danford advises jurors to consider why the Legislature has allowed such a wide range of punishment. He says: "The state searched high and low to bring you all the bad stuff they could about Mr. Baker's life. ...He did some things he's not proud of." Danford reminds jurors that he has not been convicted of a crime. Danford advises jurors to take everything into consideration. "Go back there, do some soul-searching," Danford tells the jurors. He reminds them of the testimony about his community service, time with the Baptist church and how he grew up in a family with foster children.

 

2:58 p.m. -- Long says: "Matt Baker, I can look you in the eye and say 'Because of your heartless, soulless conduct, you deserve the maximum sentence." Long pointed at Baker and started at him when he says this.

 

2:55 p.m. -- Crawford Long says that Matt Baker had "everything going for him." He went to college and had people who looked up to him. "He had everything except one thing," Long says. "He has no conscience."

 

2:49 p.m. -- First Assistant District Attorney Crawford Long tells jurors: "You got it right. ...You convicted a very guilty man." He says that they learned more about Matt Baker today. Long says, "(Women) are not really worth much to him." Long says: "This is a person that thought about killing his wife. He thought about it. ...He robbed her twice. He robbed her of her life when she was a young woman. Why did he do it? ...Ministers don't get divorced." Long says that what Baker did "was done in cold-blooded cruelty" and says that he took pleasure in it. Long says: "You don't have to be a psychiatrist to know that this man has no conscience." Long points at Matt Baker when he says this. "He's the same man he was when he killed his wife (in April of 2006). He won't change. ...He needs to be behind bars." Long says: "I think the word for it is a religious word. Out of his religion. It's 'evil'."

 

2:48 p.m. -- Strother says that he won't send all the evidence from the punishment phase with the jurors, but they are entitled to see any of the evidence again.

 

2:42 p.m. -- Strother tells jurors they can consider the "parole law" when deciding on punishment. Basically, an offender is eligible for parole after serving half of his/her sentence.

 

2:40 p.m. -- Matt Baker is reading through a packet of papers. I assume that he's reading along with the charge that Strother is reading to the jury.

 

2:36 p.m. -- Strother says that each side will get 30 minutes for closing statements. Harold Danford will argue for the defense. Guy James Gray hasn't said anything in court all day. In reading the charge, Strother says that they can assess between five to 99 years, or life, in prison. They could recommend probation, or community supervision, to Baker because he has never before been convicted of a felony.

 

2:35 p.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury is being brought back into the courtroom.

 

2:31 p.m. -- I just found out that Lora Mueller was flown in from New York, where she now resides.

 

2:02 p.m. -- The state rests. The defense rests. The court needs to prepare their instructions for the jury. It sounds like closing arguments in the punishment phase will start in about a half an hour.

 

2 p.m. -- Mueller says that Baylor officials told her that there was no need to contact the police because they would handle it.

 

1:56 p.m. -- Mueller says she went back to Waco to work the bowl game, and that all the other trainers were whispering about her. She says that only Mike Sims and Baker were supposed to have known, she says. Mueller says she couldn't do it. She dropped out of being a student trainer. "Unfortunately, I was in classes with the other trainers and some of the football players," she says, adding that she dropped out of Baylor without completing the spring semester. Around Thanksgiving 2007, Mueller says that she had a nightmare about the incident and decided that she needed to report it to authorities, other than Baylor authorities. She says that she called the Waco Police Department and reported it. "For the first time in my life, someone told me exactly what he had done because I didn't know," she says. "It was an attempted sexual assault." The detective, however, told her that the statute of limitations had run out.  She says she came here to: "Face him" and to "do right by Kari." She said the incident "absolutely" had a "lasting effect" on her life.

 

1:50 p.m. -- Mueller continues her testimony. She says that when she told Mike Sims, Matt Baker admitted to the assault. Baker says that, in the struggle, Mueller had bitten him. He showed her and Mike Sims the bite mark. Sims assured her that it would be taken care of, Mueller says. She says she woke up the next morning and "furiously trying to get a green dot off my watch." She says that the football players put a gold dot on their watches. The gold represented things like goals and leadership. The trainers used green dots, but they stood for things like greed, she says. She called her mom, and even though she had a final, she told her to come home. "I told my mother that I wanted to go to the bowl game because I had earned the right to be there just like everyone else, but I knew Matt would be there." She says that she found out that Matt Baker's "punishment" was that he would be confined to the training room. She says that "for him to be confined to the training room was actually a promotion. He got to do the stuff that others had worked four years to get to do."

 

1:41 p.m. -- The state calls Lora Mueller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. She says that she attended Baylor University and worked as a student athletic trainer. Mueller says that she and Baker were student trainers together. Prosecutor Susan Shafer asks her to describe what happened during the 1991-1992 football season. Mueller, a freshman at the time, says that she was on the same shift as Baker was. She says that she was assigned to clean an old locker room and bathroom in the stadium. She says left the locker room at one point, and when she returned, she says that Matt Baker asked whether he could go back with her. She says that she felt that was odd. "As we were walking, he began poking me in the rear with a broom. ....I told him to stop." She says that she went into the locker room and he started to kiss her. "He grabbed my arms and pulled my arms behind my back." "....At some point he picked me up" and pinned her by the sink. "He came up behind me in a bear-hug style. ...He sat down on top of me. ...He touched my vagina area." Mueller says this went on for "several minutes." She says, at some point he said he was done and walked out of the training room. Mueller says she kept cleaning because she didn't want to get in trouble. She says: "I think I was in shock. ...It hadn't quite hit me as to what had just happened." She says that she left the training room and found that the doors were locked and couldn't get out of the gym area. She called her mother, she says. Her mother told her to call Mike Sims, the head athletic trainer. She says she ran into one of the football coaches at the time. He asked her if she failed one of her finals and that's why she was crying. Mueller says that he told her that they weren't going to stand for it.  

 

1:39 p.m. -- The state's final witness will testify to this alleged incident with Matt Baker at Floyd Casey Stadium. Here is text of what Matt Baker told Tommy Witherspoon when he interviewed him in Kerrville on Dec. 6, 2007:

 

Q: There would be, once again I'll say, the cynical people who would say, you've lost a baby, you've lost your wife. People are going to accuse you of bad things at Baylor. We haven't talked about that. What happened with that girl at Baylor?

 

Baker: The incident took place, there was a group of us cleaning. We were student trainers. I was a sophomore, she was a freshman.

 

Q: What year would this have been?

 

Baker: Fall of '91. Yeah, late fall of '91. After football games, there was a group of five or six of us who would clean the facility the visitors would use after football games.

 

Q: At Floyd Casey Stadium?

 

Baker: Yeah, at Floyd Casey Stadium. It's underneath. It used to be where the home team and visitors shared, but then they built their new one, so it's different. A group of us were down there cleaning. We're on our way out. I've got the key to lock the door, so I'm turning the lights out. There's like master lights for the whole facility. So I'm turning the lights out and I did not know she was back in one of the rooms. She comes running out from the dark screaming. I open the door and she runs past me, runs past the rest of the group, runs and keeps going. Never thought anything of it. The lights are off. I lock the door. We keep going. I never heard anything of it at all until I was registering for the following semester for classes. You get to the point where you're paying your final bill, what meal plan are you going to have, all those things. There was a hold on my account. Go see one of the vice presidents. I don't remember what his name was. I had to go see him. I went into his office, went over there immediately, and sat down. He told me at that point that I had been accused. And I read her statement that she gave to the Dulins' private investigators which does not coincide with what was said to me that day. He told me that I was accused of sitting on her lap and she bit me on my back to get me off her and then ran and screamed and all that. Then in the investigator's I know she says something that I put her on a sink and she had to bite me on my chest to get away. Anyway, the vice president told me they had done some investigating and it was his opinion that when they investigated they went back to her high school and talked to people in her high school administration and that she had falsely accused at least one or two football players in their school with sexual harassment.

 

Q: Did you ever get bit?

 

Baker: I did not get bit.

 

Q: You didn't show anybody a bite mark?

 

Baker: I never showed anybody a bite mark.

 

Q: So you were falsely accused there?

 

Baker: Correct.

 

1:26 p.m. -- A crew from Inside Edition just arrived. So, that makes 20/20, 48 Hours, truTV, the Associated Press, all the local TV stations and the Waco Trib, of course.

 

12:02 p.m. -- The jury is dismissed for lunch until 1:30 p.m. The state is expected to call a last witness, who has traveled to Waco by plane. It's unclear where the witness is flying in from.

 

11:50 a.m. -- Darrell Rollins, a longtime friend of Matt Baker, is passed to prosecutor Susan Shafer. Rollins says he left Kerrville for Waco when Matt Baker was 7, but that Rollins' brother was good friends with Baker. Shafer says that what he testified to about Matt during that time, then, was hearsay. She asks whether he has any direct knowledge of why Matt Baker was let-go from the Waco Family YMCA. He says that is correct. He was working with the YMCA, he says, at the time, in his capacity as a loan officer. Shafer asks him how well he, personally, knows Matt. "Well, we don't hang out and go to the library or clubs together," but, in the last four years, he says he's had some "deep, heartfelt conversations with Matt." In response to a question from Shafer, Rollins says that "it all made sense" that Kari Baker had committed suicide. In response to more questioning, Rollins says that he didn't know that Matt Baker was having an affair or looking at pornography on the Internet. He says that: "It's a horrible situation for Matt and the family." Shafer asks: "If you believed that a husband and father murdered his wife and then convinced his daughters that their mother had committed suicide" do you think that's a good person. Rollins says: "Matt Baker has been a terrific father by all accounts that I've seen and heard, and I wouldn't think that would change." He says that he doesn't believe that Matt killed Kari. Shafer asks him, then, a hypothetical about what Matt Baker was convicted of. Rollins says: "I take the whole thing into context. ....It's critical to look at the whole body of work. ...There's a longer history of good family support." He is not answering repeated questioning from Shafer about how he would assess punishment, in a hypothetical situation, with the same facts as there are in the Baker case. The defense rests.

 

11:43 a.m. -- The defense calls Darrell Rollins, a loan officer who lives in China Spring. He says that he grew up in Kerrville and grew up and went to church with Matt Baker and his family. He's known him for 35 years, he says. Rollins says that he never saw anything "dysfunctional or strange" about Matt Baker and that he has always been "a good guy." Rollins says that Matt Baker was not "let-go" from the YMCA "negatively." He says: "Matt is a confident guy. A good guy. He carries a lot of the traits of his mother. They're very stoic people. They would give the shirt off their backs to people in need. The family has a long record of that in Kerrville." He says that people at the church in Kerrville holds "each other accountable."

 

11:40 a.m. -- First Assistant District Attorney Crawford Long asks Kerri Spartman whether she was surprised to hear that Matt Baker was having an affair. She says that it "shocked" her when it found that out. She says it doesn't surprise her that Matt Baker viewed pornography on the computer because she says that she believes that most men look at pornography. Crawford asks her: "Let me ask you, does a good father kill their children's mother?" She says: "I think it's possible. I think you could do that. I think you can be a good father and do other things too." Spartman says that the Bakers' daughters believe that their mother committed suicide.

 

11:35 a.m. -- The defense calls its fifth witness, Kerri Spartman, a computer technician and educational technologist at the Kerrville Independent School District. She says that she went to high school with Matt Baker and he was in her church youth group. "He was always one of the really good kids. ....He was one of the good guys," she says. She says she was reacquainted with Matt Baker when he moved back to Kerrville four years ago after the death of his wife, Kari. Spartman says that her children know his two daughters. She says her kids have spent the night at the Baker's. She says there were never any problems. "I do know that there is constant contact between the girls and their father. They like to let him know what is going on. He is a really great father. He, weekly, has lunch with their girls at their campuses," she says. "He's just a really good father. He puts his kids before anything else." Spartman says that Matt Baker has helped in coaching basketball teams and YMCA teams. "He's one of the most active parents we have," Spartman says. He interacts well with children, she says, and when "all of this happened, a big group of them rallied around him." Defense lawyer Harold Danford passes the witness to Crawford Long.

 

11:33 a.m. -- Strother says he was reading my blog during the break. He tells Baylor law student Garrett Pennington that some of the commenters think he's cute. The court laughs.

 

11:31 a.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury is being brought into Judge Ralph Strother's courtroom. Apparently, the defense will call two more witnesses. One is a woman and one is a man.

 

11:23 a.m. -- As the defense is waiting for another witness to arrive, Matt Baker is seated at the defendant's table with his hands clasped in his lap. His bond was revoked after the jury reached a guilty verdict last night and the 38-year-old father of two spent the night at the McLennan County Jail. As I said earlier, he looks disheveled. For the first time during the trial, he is not wearing a tie. His hair is uncombed and he has a 5 o' clock shadow. Defense lawyer Harold Danford says that their witness is parking his/her car. I couldn't tell if he said that the person was a man or a woman.

 

10:40 a.m. -- The defense is checking to see when its final witness will be available. Strother tells the jurors to recess until 11:30 a.m. The defense will first call a witness, and the state's witness will be here around 1:15 p.m., Susan Shafer says. Shafer says that their final witness is on a plane right now. If the defense says it has one more witness, I guess this means Matt Baker will not testify.

 

10:36 a.m. --The defense calls its fourth witness, Matt Baker's mother, Barbara Baker. Barbara Baker has heard all the evidence, and been in the courtroom since the beginning of the trial. She is being questioned by defense lawyer Harold Danford. He asks her to tell about Matt growing up. She says he was a family of 10. "He was fun, good grades, good sibling, no discipline problems," she says. He graduated from Kerrville Tivy High School and attended Baptist church about three days a week. When he graduated high school, he graduated Baylor University. He then went to Truett Seminary. Barbara Baker says that it has been tough to listen to all the testimony. In response to a question, she says that her son has never been convicted of a crime. The state has no questions. Both sides say they intend to call one more witness.

 

10:31 a.m. -- The defense calls its third witness, Dr. Theron C. Hawkins, a retired urologist who lives in Comfort, which is near Kerrville. He says that he knew Matt Baker when he was growing up, and testifies to Baker's leadership roles on mission trips and community service projects through their church. Hawkins says that he was reconnected with him about eight months ago when Matt Baker replaced the cover on his fireplace. Defense lawyer Harold Danford says Matt Baker comes from an "outstanding family that makes service to others their main mission."

 

10:24 a.m. -- The defense calls its second witness, Jeanne Lehrmann. She says that she lives in Riesel and is a real estate appraiser. She says she grew up with Matt Baker in Kerrville and that, later, Matt Baker was her pastor at First Baptist Church in Riesel. Lehrmann says that Baker comes from a "very fine Christian family." As pastor, Lehrmann says she often saw Baker help others. She says that he came to visit her daughter when she was in the hospital. "He was our pastor and he was involved with pretty much everything. It's a very small church," she Lehrmann says. "I thought he was a very fine pastor" and that she believes "he's a man of God." She is passed to Susan Shafer. Lehrmann says that she "absolutely" disapproves of the jury's verdict. In response to questioning from Shafer, Rollins says that there were "issues" during the year that Baker was pastor that had nothing to do with Baker. Rollins says she remembers Kari getting mad and storming out of a meeting, but testifies that she doesn't remember what the problem was. She testifies that she believes "everything Matt ever told" her "was true."

 

10:20 a.m. -- First Assistant District Attorney Crawford Long is questioning Sharon Rollins. He asks her about the behavior that was testified to earlier today. She says that she knows that men have a "pretty high rate of cheating" on their wives. She says she can pick up on signals "that something isn't right" with a person. She says she usually can pick up on those signals, "intuitively." "As far as I could tell, he was being honest and forthright with me."

 

10:12 a.m. -- Prosecutor Susan Shafer says that she can't call any more witnesses until after lunch. So, witnesses will be taken out of order. The defense calls Sharon Rollins, who grew up in Kerrville and lives in Waco. She works as a family counselor, she says. Rollins says she grew up with Matt Baker, and that they played together as children, and their families are friends. They both went to Baylor University. Rollins says the were "always hanging out." She says he was "very charming and flirtatious at times." but that she never took that as anything to be concerned about. She says, "He was just a good guy." She says they were alone together "all the time." In response to a question from Harold Danford, Rollins says that, as a therapist, she was paying attention to Matt Baker's dealings with his children. "I was impressed with the way he handled himself," she says. Rollins says that Baker was often involved on mission trips and community service projects. She says that she knows Baker was found guilty of murder, and Danford asks her whether that bothers her. He asks her why she's here. Rollins says: "I'm here to attest to my experience of Matt. I know from my professional world that when a person is a hardened criminal, things show up early in childhood and along the way," that, she says, she hasn't seen in Matt Baker. Rollins says that she is a licensed counselor with a master's degree.   

 

10:10 a.m. -- Noel Kersh is passed to defense lawyer Harold Danford. In response to a question, Kersh says that none of the sites that Baker appeared to have visited were illegal. He says that he found no evidence of child pornography.

 

10:03 a.m. -- Prosecutor Susan Shafer continues her questioning of Noel Kersh, a computer expert who analyzed Matt Baker's computers at the Waco Center for Youth and Crossroads Baptist Church. He says that there was a lot of "Web history" on his computers that had not been deleted, and some had. So, some were recovered from deleted files and won't have dates and times. In a report titled, "Pornographic/Dating Sites," Web sites listed include, "www.americansingles.com, sexlist.com, discreetsexdates.com, and widewomen.com. He says that he found both nude female-only sites and male and female nude sites. More sites include: playboy.com, bustydustystash.com, collegewildparties.com, iwantanewgirlfriend.com. On April 4, 2006, there were seven pornographic Web sites visited by mattdb7722, Matt Baker's log-in name. Other sites include: coolanalsite.com, hornymatches.com, cutecupcake.com. Again, Kersh says there is evidence that Matt Baker regularly visited these sites at both his Crossroads Baptist Church computer and Waco Center for Youth computer.

 

10 a.m. -- The jury is being brought back in. The state will continue its questioning of Noel Kersh, the Houston-based computer expert, who prepared a report about the type of pornographic Web sites, that, he says, Matt Baker was visiting on a regular basis from his offices at the Waco Center for Youth, where he served as head chaplain, and Crossroads Baptist Church in Lorena, where he was pastor.

 

9:54 a.m. -- Noel Kersh, a Houston-based computer expert, is on the stand, but the judge sent the jury back to the jury room because the prosecutors are trying to set up a report prepared by Kersh that contains the pornographic Web sites that, Kersh says, Matt Baker was visiting on a regular basis. Kersh also testified during the guilt/innocence phase of the trial. In that phase, he told jurors that he found evidence  Baker was searching prescription drug Web sites.

 

9:47 a.m. -- The state calls its fourth witness, Noel Kersh, who was a computers expert who testified during the guilt/innocence phase of the trial. Kersh analyzed Matt Baker's computer from the Waco Center for Youth and Crossroads Baptist Church in Lorena. Kersh says Matt Baker was "browsing a number of pornographic Web sites." He says "it looks like these were browsed Web sites due to the shear quantity of the sites and the variety of sites, these were not pop-ups." He says he found evidence that Baker was browsing pornographic sites on both computers. Prosecutor Susan Shafer asks whether these are "traditional" pornographic sites. He says, "I guess if I had to classify, they're mostly younger adult, college-aged type of things. Mostly female nudity. There was one Web site that was a gay Web site. The other classification would be adult personals. One site that comes to mind is www.ashleymadison.com which connects married people with other married people interested in having an affair." Kersh says, "This was a regular occurrence" for Matt Baker. He knows it was Matt Baker viewing the porn, he says, because of the login names he used on both computers.  

 

9:40 a.m. -- The state calls its third witness, Erin Calverley, a friend of Lindsey, who is a cousin of Kari Baker. She says that she went to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth to visit Kassidy. She says that Matt Baker came up to introduce himself and asked her if she wanted to see the room that the hospital provides to the parents of terminally ill children. Calverley says that he told her that Kari and Lindsey were in Kassidy's room, visiting her, and that he told her they would be gone a while. She says that this happened "very shortly" before Kassidy died. Kassidy was the Baker's middle daughter, who died in 1999 after having brain surgery on a tumor. Calverley says that she told Matt Baker that she wouldn't go to the room with him because she thought it was inappropriate for him to go to the room with him, and he told her that his wife would never find out.  

 

9:38 a.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury is about to be brought back into the courtroom to hear another of the state's witnesses.

 

9:19 a.m. -- The death penalty is not at issue here because this is not a capital murder case. Capital murder is murder committed along with another felony, or a special circumstance, such as the killing of a police officer.

 

9:16 a.m. -- Prosecutor Susan Shafer says some other witnesses are coming from out of town and are not available. Judge Strother asks Harold Danford whether they had any witnesses to call, and Danford says he needs 10 minutes. Strother thanks the jurors for their patience, and explains that some witnesses are coming from out of town and even out of state.

 

9:10 a.m. -- Baylor law student Garrett Pennington is continuing his questioning of Dina Ahrens. She says that, in 2005, Baker knew that both of them were married with children, but she says, "He told me that what they don't know won't hurt them." The witness is passed to Harold Danford. Ahrens says she currently lives in Medina County. He runs through her testimony, asking whether their flirting and dating was consensual. She says that it was.

 

9:06 a.m. -- Baylor law student Garrett Pennington is continuing his questioning of Dina Ahrens, who says that Matt Baker nearly sexually assaulted her when she was in high school. In 2005, she says that Matt Baker tracked her down when she had moved to Waco. She says: "The tone of the conversation got to be that it seemed like he wanted to hook up." Pennington asks her to describe what she means by that. "Matt always had a mischievous tone to his voice. In the past, it was flirty and fun. But this time it kind of made my skin crawl." Ahrens says that she contacted James and Linda Dulin's attorneys to tell her story. "Seeing his mugshot on the front page of the Kerrville Times haunted me."

 

8:58 a.m. -- The state calls its second witness, Dina Ahrens. She says she's an agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. She says she was born and raised in Kerrville, which is Matt Baker's hometown. She is being questioned by Baylor law student, Garrett Pennington. She says Matt Baker "pursued" her "flirtatiously" in high school and they dated for seven months. Pennington asks what attracted her to him. She says that he was an upperclassman, "funny, very flirtatious and charming at the time." She says "he was very physical for me," but that they had a pact that they would wait till the year 2000 to get married. Ahrens says he broke up with her. They were in the marching band together. She says that before he went to college, they would see each other and still flirt. She says that when he was in college and it was my senior year of college he came back to Kerrville to visit. This was in 1991 or 1992, she says. Ahrens says that they were at "an event" and "playing a game of cat and mouse, rekindling the old flame." She says he followed her back to her house and her parents weren't home. She says there was "heavy petting and things were getting very physical." Ahrens says: "This time was different. He was more aggressive, sexually with me. ...I remember repeatedly telling him that my mom was going to be home any time, and he was very aggressive and relentless. I remember having to use all my strength to keep him from taking my clothes off me." She says he stopped when they heard that her mother was home. She says that, at first, she brushed it off, but says that now she sees that "this person is capable of sexual assault."

 

8:57 a.m. -- Stephanie Sanders is passed to defense lawyer Harold Danford. He asks whether she ever reported the incident to the police. She says she did not, and that she was approached about it.

 

8:50 a.m. -- The seven-woman, five-man jury is brought in. The state calls its first witness in the punishment phase of the trial, Stephanie Sanders. Baylor law student Garrett Pennington is questioning her. Sanders says she is a teacher at Waco ISD and lives in Hewitt. Sanders says she worked with Matt Baker at a Christmas camp at the Waco Family YMCA. She is asked about an incident in January of 1996. She says she went into a room to look at receipts. "He put my hand on my breast," she says. "I told him no. ...He kept trying to grab my crotch and get me to touch his penis. He told me he wanted to f*** me right there." She says the phone rang in the "rec room." This was when children were in the other room at the YMCA. Sanders says she was 19 at the time. She says her bosses started asking questions about encounters she had with Matt Baker and it "came to light that there were other complaints from other employees." Sanders says he was fired for this.

 

8:49 a.m. -- Garrett Pennington, a third-year law student at Baylor University, has been assisting the prosecution throughout the trial. Tommy Witherspoon found out this morning that Pennington might get to question some witnesses.

 

8:37 a.m. -- This is the phase of the trial where jurors are likely to hear from at least some of the dozen women, including two of Kari Baker's cousins, who have claimed that Baker made "improper sexual advances" toward them. Baker, again, was found guilty at 9:40 p.m. yesterday of killing Kari Baker, his 31-year-old wife and the mother of his two daughters. The jury deliberated for more than seven hours. In finding Matt Baker guilty, the jury said that he drugged his wife on April 8, 2006 and smothered her with a pillow. Baker's defense lawyers, Guy James Gray and Harold Danford, told jurors that Kari Baker was depressed over the death of the Baker's middle daughter, Kassidy, who died in March of 1999 after having brain surgery. They argued she was also upset that her husband was cheating on her. His mistress, Vanessa Bulls, testified to how Baker killed his wife. Bulls, 27, was placed yesterday on paid administrative leave from her teaching position in Harker Heights.

 

8:33 a.m. -- Baker, a Baptist minister, is wearing the same outfit he wore yesterday, minus the multicolored tie that read "Faith" and had Jesus fish and crosses on it. His button-down shirt is hunter green and the blazer over is a subdued beige plaid. His appearance is clearly disheveled, with brown stubble on his face and his hair, uncombed. He is sitting with his hands folded in his lap at the defendant's chair.

 

8:26 a.m. -- Photographers and cameramen are set up to catch sheriff's deputies bring Matt Baker into Judge Ralph Strother's 19th State District Court. Baker, 38, was found guilty of murder at 9:40 p.m. last night by a seven-woman, five-man jury. Today the same jury will be asked to assess punishment. Jurors can give him anywhere from probation to life in prison.