"The former Central Texas pastor charged with the murder of his wife, Matt Baker, seems to be having legal problems.
Thursday morning Baker's appellate attorney, Stan Schwieger, submitted a motion to withdraw from Baker's case." (read more)
Baker asks for new lawyer in murder case appeal
Tommy Witherspoon
WacoTrib.com
"The judge said that Waco attorney Stan Schwieger presented his court Thursday with a motion to withdraw as Baker's appellate attorney." (read more)
View Matt's handwritten letter to Judge Strother here in Tommy's article linked above.
Matt Baker files a motion requesting a new appeals lawyer
Channel 25 - KXXV.com
"WACO - Convicted murderer and former pastor Matt Baker has filed a motion to
withdraw Stan Schwieger as his appeals attorney." (read more)
Wonder why no attorneys want anything to do with the "murdering minister"? Hearing scheduled Monday at 10:00 to discuss this matter. Should be interesting.
1 comment:
Texas Criminal Procedure gives nine possible reasons to grant a post-conviction motion for a new trial. They include drunk jurors, bribery or corruption of jurors, preventing testimony of a defense witness through fraud or threats, illegal behavior on the part of the trial judge, etc. Nothing that even comes close to applying to the fair, well-run trial that Matt got in Judge Strothers’s courtroom.
The only other legal consideration for a new trial is 'inneffective assistance of counsel.' This is NEVER based on the the defendant’s assertion that his counsel did not do a good job. 'Inneffective assistance of counsel' is legally a very high bar, requiring proof that an attorney made egregious errors and that these errors led to a verdict that would have been otherwise without such errors. No way, Matt. It has been established through case law that even if an attorney sleeps through part of the trial, this does not warrant a new trial.
From a sociopath’s perspective, since guilt can never be admitted, responsibility can never be taken, and there is no such thing as too much expense, damage, harm, pain, or trouble one causes others to suffer, Matt must hold the line and delay, delay, delay that moment when all hope is lost and his conviction and sentence are upheld.
[Interestingly, that is the day when (if I’m not mistaken) his parental rights will be moot. He has custody of the girls right now, and I think he technically will until the appeal has been denied. Did you know that a motion for new trial can delay the start of the clock on the appeal, by as long as three months? *Disclaimer: This is just my own interpretation of my research on this topic.*]
Obviously Schweiger has competently, properly advised Matt and his power-of-attorney slash mother slash personal-consultant (slash collaborator slash accomplice-after-the-fact) that this case does not merit a new trial. All Schweiger can offer Matt is the basic Notice of Appeal. Following through with an appeal is itself a pretty pointless exercise, because the trial verdict can only be overturned if it can be proven that the judge made significant errors during the trial and that such errors resulted in a verdict that would have been otherwise. Not gonna happen. Period.
What a huge waste of taxpayer money. What a continuing affront to the memory of Kari, the lovely woman whose life he snuffed out, but whose spirit could not be erased. What a slap in the face to her family. I pity Kensi and Grace as this drags on.
Looking forward to that day when all the appeal business is finished, and Matt Baker disappears from public view until his parole hearing 30-odd years from now.
I wonder -- if by some chance he later on ends up being convicted of Kassidy's death as well, could that mean a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole?
I'm so ready for Matt Baker to just go away.
:(
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