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	Update: Jury Deliberates Punishment for Former Waco Pastor Matt Baker KWTX January 21, 2010 http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/82251267.html 3:14 p.m. The jury heads to the jury room to start deliberations in the punishment phase of the Matt Baker trial. 3:14 p.m. "We look forward to your verdict." Shafer says. 3:12 p.m. "We are not worried about a fine, we just want a good long number of years. We want to send a message to men like Matt....You can not erase a life and be out with just a slap on the wrist, and I know you will never do that." Shafer says. 3:11 p.m. "I worry how they are going to adjust to all of this." Shafer says to the jury about Baker's daughters. 3:06 p.m. He has spent the last four years trying to erase Kari Lynn's memory, by telling his two daughters that their mom didn't love them enough to stay alive, Shafer tells the jury. 3:04 p.m. Shafer says, "I can't get over knowing that Kari wasn't dead, she was able to take that one last gasp...she knew what he was doing to her." 3:03 p.m. Danford wraps up, and Susan Shafer is now talking to the jury about Matt. Shafer says she feels for Baker's parents, his family and friends, but that doesn't excuse all the choices Baker has made. 3:01 p.m. Harold Danford is now talking to the jury on behalf of Matt Baker. Danford says the state spent 4 years trying to dig stuff up on Baker, and all they found occurred when he was in high school and college. Danford says the jury should take EVERYTHING into consideration. Danford thanks the jury for their work, spending more than 7 hours deliberating. 2:57 p.m. "We ask you to return the maximum verdict." The state would sure argue for the top of the line on this, I haven't heard any facts that would justify less." Good guys don't slaughter their wives." Long says. 2:55 p.m. "He was happy as he could be after his wife died....Can you imagine being happy after you killed a human being?" Long asked the jury. 2:54 p.m. "I am not going to talk to you about probation." Long tells the jury, because if you are considering it, "we are not on the same page." 2:53 p.m. "He is what he is. What is seated here now in the courtroom, is the same person who killed his wife....He is the same, he hasn't change. And I submit to you under the evidence he won't change. He needs to be behind bars....I think the proper word is, from his religion, its evil. There is no other way you can call it." Long says. 2:52 p.m. "This was done in cold-blooded cruelty. I killed her, and I got away with it." Long says. 2:50 p.m. Long says, "This is a person that thought about killing his wife, and plotted. The woman he had been married to for years...He robbed her twice. He robbed, she was a young woman." Long adds, "Why did he do it? Minister's don't get divorced." Its about him, Long says. 2:50 p.m. Long says, "today you got to learn a lot more about Matt Baker." 2:48 p.m. Crawford Long starts the state's closing arguments during the punishment phase. "You got it right, under the law, you convicted a very guilty man." 2:48 p.m. Judge finishes reading the charge. 2:28 p.m. Judge Strother is reading the charge to the jury. The judge instructs them they can sentence Baker from 5 to life in prison. Since Baker has never been convicted of a felony in Texas or any other state, probation is also an option. 2:15 p.m. Judge Strother asks both sides how much time they will need during closing arguments. The state asks for 30 minutes, and the defense says it doesn't need that much. 2:02 p.m. The state and the defense rest in the punishment phase of the trial. Judge Strother dismisses the jury for about 20-30 minutes so the sentencing order can be processed. 1:42 p.m. Laura Mueller takes the stand. She is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Mueller is talking about an incident during the 1991-1992 football season. Mueller says during that season she went to the old locker room to clean it, per her responsibilities as a freshman trainer. Mueller said it was winter finals time that season and she was at the stadium. She said she needed to go to the old locker room and asked a freshman to accompany her, but that person couldn't do it. Mueller says Baker volunteered. Mueller said she thought it was odd because Baker wasn't a freshman, but Mueller says she didn't think much of it at the time. As they walked to the old locker room, Mueller says Baker started poking her in the rear with broom. Mueller says she told him to stop. He did it a few times, Mueller testified she laughed it off. Mueller says she was cleaning the bathroom, and at one point Baker started to try and kiss her. Mueller says she tried to reject Baker's advances. Mueller says at one point Baker picked her up and put her on a sink in that bathroom. Mueller says Baker later told her she had bit him in the shoulder. Mueller says Baker picked her up, bear-hugged her, put her down and started fondling her leg and then her private parts. Mueller says she tried to get away, and at one point Baker said he was done, got up, and walked out of the training room. Mueller said her first thought was to continue cleaning the training room. I think I was in shock...I wasn't reacting. It hadn't hit me, what happened." Mueller says she made a mistake, walked into the stadium, and realized she was locked in. Mueller says she found a pay phone called her mom in Mesquite. Her mom told her to call Mike Sims, the head trainer at the time. Mueller says she ran into a football coach, he asked her why she was crying. Mueller says she couldn't get in touch with Sims so she went back to her dorm and called the guy she was interested in. Mueller said she sat in the lobby of the dorm until her parents got there. Mueller says she went back to a meeting with Mike Sims and Matt Baker and her parents. Mueller says she was assured by Sims that Baker would be taken care of. Mueller says she remembered that Baker's punishment was that he was confined to the training room. Mueller says she was embarrassed by what happened and eventually dropped out of Baylor University. Mueller says after that she had continuous nightmares about the incident. Then, around Thanksgiving 1997, Mueller says she decided she needed to do something. So, Mueller says she called Waco Police Department. Mueller says the detective took the case, but realized that the statute of limitations had expired by one year. Mueller says the event has had a lasting impact on her life. 12:00 p.m. Darrell Rollins, a long-time friend of Matt Baker's took the stand. After his testimony, the Judge ordered a recess until 1:30 p.m. 10:43 a.m. Judge recesses until 11:30 a.m. as they wait for a defense witness. 10:36 a.m. Barbara Baker is on the stand. Barbara is Matt's mother. 10:31 a.m. The defense is now calling a Doctor to the stand. Dr. Theron C. Hawkins says he knew Matt Baker growing up. Hawkins recounts some stories about Baker from his youth. 10:24 a.m. Jeanie Larman is on the stand. She testified during the hearing to change the venue of the trial. Larman says Baker was a good pastor. Larman says she disagrees with the jury's verdict. Baker is sitting, hands clasped together. Larman says she believes everything that Baker has ever told her is true. 10:12 a.m. Sharon Rollins takes the stand. She is a defense witness. The state says it won't have another witness until after lunch, so in order to keep the flow forward-moving, the prosecution and the defense are each calling their witnesses out of order. Sharon says she grew up with Baker in Kerrville. Rollins says she never saw anything about Baker that raised suspicion in her mind. Rollins says she never witnessed anything that would lead her to believe Matt is a "hardened criminal." Rollins says its hard for her to reason on the inside that Baker is now convicted of murder. 10:03 a.m. Kersh is back on the stand after a short delay due to technology issues. Kersh is now showing the jury a list of at least a half-dozen pornographic websites that were accessed at the Waco Center for Youth. Kersh classified the Web sites as female pornography and dating websites. Kersh says he found both female only and female and male together Web sites. Susan Shafer points to several websites. Kersh says during one of the visits to a pornographic Web site, the person using the Crossroads Baptist laptop sent an email to Kari Lynn. Kersh says some of these sites were visited days before Kari's murder in April 2006. Harold Danford, one of the Baker's attorneys is now talking with Kersh. Danford asks if Kersh found anything illegal, and Kersh testifies he didn't find any child pornography. 9:46 a.m. Noel Kersh returns to the stand. Prosecutor Susan Shafer asked if pornographic material found on computers to which Baker had access was "pop-up" in nature. Kersh, a computer expert from Houston, testified that internet history records on both a computer server at Waco Center for Youth and a laptop computer that belonging to the Crossroads Baptist Church indicate the computers had likely visited a variety of pornographic websites featuring "younger adult pornography, college-age kids type things. Mostly female nudity." Kersh says there was also one website that featured gay pornography. Other website classifications include adult personals, including one Web site in particular that connects married people interested in having an affair with other married people, Kersh testified. 9:40 a.m. Erin Calverley. Erin met Matt Baker through Lindsay, who is Kari Lynn's cousin. On the stand, Erin recounted a trip to Dallas in 1999 to see Kassidy, the Baker's daughter who died of cancer. Erin says she was 20 at the time when she went to Dallas with Lindsay to visit Kassidy in the hospital. Erin says Lindsay and Kari Lynn were in the room visiting Kassidy and Erin and Matt were in a game room. Erin says that Matt told her that the parents of all terminally ill patients had a room at the hospital. Erin said that Matt asked her if she wanted to see the room, and Erin told her it wasn't appropriate. Erin says that Matt then touched her leg and asked if she was sure. Erin says she told Matt that it was inappropriate. 9:17 a.m. Judge Strother orders a short recess to wait on some witnesses. 8:58 a.m. Dina Ahrens takes the stand. Ahrens says she is TABC Officer, and grew up in Kerrville, TX. Arns says she met Matt Baker her freshman year in high school. Ahrens says she began a high school relationship with Baker and dated him for about seven months. Ahrens says she was attracted because Baker was a junior and she was a freshman. Ahrens says Baker was phyiscal with her, then she clarifies that they kissed a lot, and there was some heavy petting. Ahrens says Baker broke up with her, but they saw each other off and on. Ahrens recounts that around 1991 or 1992 Baker came home from college and the two were flirting with each other and "rekindling the old flame, I guess." Ahrens said. Ahrens said both of them went to her parents house that night, and her parents were out of town. It was her senior year in high school. says that night Baker was much more aggressive that night, but Ahrens kept telling her she didn't want to do it because her mom would be coming home soon. "I had to use all my strength to keep him off of me." Ahrens said. In 1997 or 1998, she was working at Wal-Mart in Bellmead when she ran into Matt Baker with his wife Kari Lynn and their daughter. Ahrens says in 2005 she was working with TABC when she got a phone call from Matt Baker. She said the conversation started off innocently enough, but Ahrens said the tone of the conversation switched, and Baker seemed to want to hook up. Arns says, at this point in my life, his voice "kind of made my skin crawl." Ahrens said. "What your boyfriend and my wife don't know won't hurt them." Ahrens said. Ahrens said she contacted Linda Dulin's attorney's after seeing his mug shot on the front page of the Kerrville newspaper haunted her. 8:51 a.m. The punishment phase of the trial has just started. The state calls its first witness. Stephanie Sanders. Garrett Pennington is handling the state's case during the punishment phase. He is a third year law student at Baylor University. Sanders testifies that on on January 6, 1996. Baker approached her in the Youth Rec Room at the local Y-M-C-A. Sanders says Baker came from behind her, touched her breast, tried to touch her crotch, and told her he wanted to have sex with her. Sanders testified that she was 19 at the time, and testified she told him "no." 8:30 a.m. Baker appeared in court unshaven, disheveled, and wearing the same suit he wore Wednesday night when the jury returned their verdict of guilt.
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