Judge awaits change of venue briefs
WAYNESBURG – A Greene County judge on Wednesday ordered attorneys to file briefs before he decides if the trial for a man accused of killing his estranged wife last year should be moved to another county. Scott Baker, 38, of Nemacolin, is accused of strangling to death Melissa Baker, 30, at her Crucible home on Nov. 20, 2009. Scott Baker’s son, Nathaniel, 12, told police that his father asked him to provide an alibi for him, and then set up the killing to appear like a robbery gone awry.
Scott Baker is charged with criminal homicide, solicitation to commit homicide, tampering with evidence, solicitation to commit evidence tampering and intimidation of witnesses. He is being held in Washington County Prison without bond.
President Judge William Nalitz gave Public Defender Harry Cancelmi 20 days to file his position, and District Attorney Marjorie Fox 10 days to reply.
The attorneys will argue their positions on not only on the change of venue, but also address Cancelmi’s claim that the county’s jury selection system is flawed because it excludes certain demographics. The filings also will address the defense attorney’s request to dismiss a count of criminal solicitation to commit homicide. That charge is based on information that Nathaniel Baker provided, indicating that his father essentially asked him to help cover up his stepmother’s death.
Nathaniel Baker testified previously that his father started talking about killing his wife in early November, when he told the boy she was going to “disappear.” The 12-year-old said during a preliminary hearing in January that Melissa Baker wanted full custody of his 18-month-old half brother. The toddler was Scott and Melissa Baker’s child; Nathaniel Baker has a different mother.
Scott Baker essentially asked Nathaniel Baker to offer him an alibi if police asked where he was, instructing that he tell authorities he was home all day, the boy previously testified.
Police alleged that Scott Baker first planned to kill his wife on Nov. 14, but that did not work out.
On Nov. 19, however, police said Scott Baker told his son he was keeping him home from school the next day because he planned to tell police they were home together through the day on Nov. 20.
Scott Baker then told Melissa Baker that he was going to take his elder son to a doctor’s appointment and planned to drop the 18-month-old boy at her home.
When they got there, Nathaniel Baker testified previously he went to the bathroom as soon as they arrived, as his father instructed. While he was there, he heard his stepmother scream and then a loud thud, according to prior testimony. Then, Nathaniel Baker said, his father told him to come out and get his half brother, because the baby was on the floor screaming.
At that point, the boy indicated to police that he saw his father standing over Melissa Baker’s motionless body, his hand over her mouth.
Scott Baker and his two sons returned to the home later in the day so that Scott Baker could make it look like Melissa Baker was killed during the course of a robbery, according to prior testimony.
Cancelmi argued in a motion that the system for picking jurors in Greene County is exclusionary based on age, occupation, income and other factors.
Rosalind Laur, Greene County Republican jury commissioner, fielded questions during Wednesday’s proceeding about how jury selection is conducted in the county.
Laur testified that the jury commissioners gather a master list of jurors based on the voter registration and other means, including volunteers, driver’s licenses and through the phone book.
“We try to make the list as wide-ranging as possible,” Laur testified.
Six percent of each ZIP code then makes up the “jury wheel,” which she and Democratic Jury Commissioner Lynn Leathers use to pick pools for criminal and civil court.
Typically, civil court terms require 75 jurors and criminal court terms require 80 jurors, Laur testified.
The total pool in the “jury wheel” – a literal wheel from which jurors’ names are picked – is between 1,200 and 1,500 people, Laur testified.
She indicated that using 6 percent of the population from each ZIP code works because in bigger areas, that brings in a bigger cross-section, and in small areas, like Aleppo, that brings in a smaller number.
“The law says we can determine how we select the people, and we do. We think this is very fair,” she testified. “We’re looking for a cross-section of people in Greene County, and a jury of people’s peers.”
When the people are selected as potential jurors, Laur said they are sent questionnaires. Based on the answers they give, she said the jury commissioners determine if they are eligible jurors.
Certain things are required of jurors. They must be U.S. citizens, residents of the county where they will serve and not have been convicted of a crime that could have been punishable by up to a year in prison, Laur testified.
Though Cancelmi’s motion questioned whether certain people were excluded, Laur testified that the office does not know who is actually called as a potential juror until the questionnaires come back.
Another of Cancelmi’s claims is that because of pretrial publicity, and because Melissa Baker was a corrections officer at the Greene County Prison, that his client will not get a fair trial.
He presented several news stories, printed out from the Internet, in which people commented on the case.
“The comments are a symptom of why the article itself impacts Mr. Baker’s ability to get a fair trial,” Cancelmi said.
Fox noted that she has not made comments to the media about the case, and said that in the years of trying cases, both she and Cancelmi have seen how little potential jurors know about the cases they are called to hear.
“The availability of multimedia has done more to distract the jury than to focus them on one specific fact,” she said.
While the motion also asks for court approval for a psychiatrist and investigator, those requests already have been approved. Nalitz approved a psychiatrist at a cost not to exceed $1,500 without court approval, and an investigator not to exceed a cost of $500 without additional approval.