Judge Denies Motion to Switch Attorneys for Baker, by Louis Ojeda, Kxxv, April 17, 2010

Judge Denies Motion to Switch Attorneys for Baker

By Louis Ojeda
Kxxv
April 17, 2010

http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12324654

WACO - A judge denied a motion on Friday for a new attorney for a former Waco-area pastor convicted of killing his wife.

Matt Baker was sentenced to 65 years in prison after he was found guilty in January for the murder of his wife Kari in 2006.

Stan Schwieger, Baker's attorney, filed a motion last week to withdraw from the case. That was based on a handwritten letter Baker sent Judge Ralph Strother, asking for a new attorney, and accusing Strother and Schwieger of conspiring against him in his appeal efforts to have his murder conviction overturned.

"There was no conspiracy, there is no conspiracy. That's a fantasy," Schwieger countered.

"I do not agree with, nor will I sponsor any type of argument that Judge Strother or myself engaged in any action against Mr. Baker. At all times I have acted in the best interests of Mr. Baker," Schwieger said after Friday's hearing.

Both the defense and prosecutors agreed to recuse Strother from that hearing because of Baker's letter, and retired District Judge George Allen presided over the court proceeding.

Baker testified he was disappointed in an April 1st hearing when Schwieger abandoned five of the six complaints Baker made in a effort to get a new trial.

Those claims were based on ineffective counsel in his murder trial in January, but Schwieger told the court Friday that hearing was not the proper time to present that evidence.

Before Judge Allen praised Schwieger and denied Baker's request for a new attorney, Schwieger explained his strategy for not presenting those claims to the court, and later to the media.

"There is a process to vet all those before the trial court and the Court of Criminal Appeals, when a full record can be developed," Schwieger said.

"By dropping the claims, I am not saying they're not meritorious, that is not the issue. The issue was the time to present them given the time frame I had. In order to present them adequately they required hundreds of hours of work. That required time and effort I did not have available. I didn't want to screw it up, or screw up his appeal for all time, and that's what would have happened, in my view," Schwieger explained.

Schwieger's motion earlier this month for a new trial was denied by Judge Ralph Strother, and immediately afterwards the attorney filed a motion for appeal to a higher court.

"Despite the fact Mr. Baker doesn't want me on the appeal, the Court has ordered me to do so and I'm going to carry out my job to the best of my ability," he told News Channel 25.

He also promised to move forward with appeal efforts.

"I still feel strongly that the 13th juror in the jury room in the murder trial is illegal and unconstitutional, and grounds for reversal of that conviction."

Assistant District Attorneys Crawford Long and Susan Shafer subpoenaed records from Ford Motor Credit, and briefly argued in court the lien on Matt Bakers 2006 Ford Pickup had been paid off, and Baker could sell that truck and pay to hire his own attorney.