Jury finds Nemacolin man guilty of first-degree murder
John F. Brothers/HeraldStandard.com
Scott Baker of Nemacolin is led from a Greene County courtroom Wednesday after the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2009 death of his estranged wife.
Melissa
Baker
Scott Baker of Nemacolin is led from a Greene County courtroom Wednesday after the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2009 death of his estranged wife. (Photo by John F. Brothers)
Melissa Baker
WAYNESBURG — A Greene County jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours Wednesday before finding a Nemacolin man guilty of premeditated murder in the death of his estranged wife two years ago.
When the verdict of first-degree murder was announced, several members of Melissa Baker’s family, including her mother and father, expressed relief before sobbing and embracing each other.
Upon leaving the courtroom, most of the jurors made eye contact with Melissa Baker’s family, with one juror giving her father a “thumbs up” sign and and another wishing them good luck.
Neither defendant Scott Baker, 39, nor his mother, Carla Baker, who attended every day of the trial, expressed any emotion when the verdict was read. Scott Baker was immediately handcuffed and led away from the courtroom.
When asked about their ruling, jury foreman Timothy Ammon said the jury took the time to evaluate the evidence and Scott Baker’s testimony during its deliberations, but felt the evidence to support first-degree murder was overwhelming.
Baker admitted killing Melissa Baker in her Crucible mobile on Nov. 20, 2009, in the middle of his trial. The autopsy revealed that she died of manual strangulation and that her throat was cut when she was either dead or dying. She was found by two coworkers at the Greene County Prison after she didn’t show up for work.
Ammon said that Scott Baker, in his own testimony, admitted that he had an opportunity to not only kill his wife, but he “went on to cut her throat.” Ammon added that the jury believed the testimony of 14-year-old son Nathaniel Baker.
During the trial, Nathaniel Baker testified that his father told him that his stepmother was going to “disappear” and then formed a plan to kill her while Nathaniel Baker went to the bathroom at her mobile home. Nathaniel Baker also said his father kept him home from school on that day and instructed him to tell the police that they were at home all day when the killing occurred.
Scott Baker entered a guilty plea to a count of general homicide after the prosecution rested in the case. The jury still had to determine what degree of homicide he was guilty of, as well as if he was guilty of the other charges against him. He was found guilty of all other charges against him, which included tampering with evidence, criminal solicitation to commit homicide and criminal solicitation to commit tampering of evidence and intimidation of a witness.
During his testimony, Scott Baker said he “blacked out” after arguing with his wife, and when he came to, he was on top of her with his forearm around her neck. He said he didn’t recruit his son to help him plan his wife’s murder because there was no plan. The couple’s then-20-month-old son Brett Baker was also in the mobile home at the time his mother was killed.
In closing statements, District Attorney Marjorie Fox urged the jury to return a verdict of first-degree murder. She said that the fact that Scott Baker had diagnoses of alcohol dependency, depression and suffered abuse as a child didn’t excuse the killing.
A psychologist and psychiatrist each testified during the trial that Scott Baker suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and had alcohol dependency issues. While psychologist Dr. Michael Crabtree said Scott Baker couldn’t formulate a plan to commit murder, psychiatrist Dr. Robert Wettstein testifed that he could.
“We all have problems. We all have baggage,” Fox said.
Fox said Scott Baker plotted and planned his wife’s murder and carried out that plan.
An emotional Fox said afterward that she respected the work that the jury did in making a very difficult decision. She said in the two years since the crime occurred she has heard from people who were “waiting for this day.”
She said in closing that the photographs shown to the jury reveal the face of a “forever young, vibrant mother whose life and breath were wrenched from her in a matter of moments by Scott Baker.”
Fox said in Scott Baker’s version of events he introduces “plausible deniability” because he used a code to plan the killing.
In his version, things get blacked out like a violent video game, Fox said. She urged the jury to find him guilty of first-degree murder, or “game over, Scott Baker.”
During closing by the defense, Public Defender Harry Cancelmi said that the events that led to the killing of Melissa Baker — including the death of Scott Baker’s father, the hospitalization of Scott Baker after he said he wanted to kill himself and the filing of a divorce — culminated in her killing.
Cancelmi urged the jury to find Scott Baker guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He said the provocation that led to Scott Baker’s rage was the result of his abuse as a child at the hands of his father, years of alcoholism, depression and finally Melissa Baker telling him she was canceling his health insurance.
Cancelmi said what happened on the day that Melissa Baker died was that the person that everyone, including Melissa Baker, knew could come out did and the hidden shadow and spirit that Scott Baker normally kept out of sight “overtook and overcame him.”
He said none of the witnesses said Scott Baker wasn’t a good father or used the word “hate” to describe him.
The jury of six men and six women retired to the jury room around noon, where they were given lunch and began deliberations. They returned shortly after 2:30 p.m.
Prior to adjourning to the jury room, the two men and two women alternate jurors who attended every day of the trial were dismissed. The trial included two days of jury selection, nine days of testimony and the final day included closing statements and the judge’s instructions to the jury. The trial was held before President Judge William R. Nalitz, who will sentence Scott Baker at a later date. The first-degree murder conviction includes a sentence of life in prison.