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Thread: Paul Wesley Baker - California Death Row

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    Paul Wesley Baker - California Death Row


    Paul Wesley Baker


    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on January 26, 2009. Paul Wesley Baker was convicted March 19, 2008 of first-degree murder for the 2004 slaying of Reseda resident Judy Palmer. Her decomposing body was found on May 11, 2004, by a transient near Interstate 10 and Gene Autry Trail.

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    January 16, 2009

    A now-47-year-old man who raped and murdered his ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to death.

    Paul Wesley Baker was convicted last March 19 of first-degree murder for the 2004 slaying of Reseda resident Judy Palmer's slaying. Her decomposing body was found on May 11, 2004, by a transient near Interstate 10 and Gene Autry Trail.

    A jury recommended that Baker be executed for raping and murdering the 60-year-old Reseda grandmother he once dated.

    Palmer vanished almost four years ago. Her decomposed remains were found in the desert near Palm Springs a month after she went missing.

    Women who were key witnesses in Baker's trial testified that he raped them after meeting them in alcohol-recovery programs.

    Prosecutors' closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial were interrupted last week by a grotesque outburst from Baker, 47, who screamed and smeared his own feces on his face, spattering courtroom furniture and his defense attorneys.

    Outside the courtroom in April when a jury recommended death, jurors said they were confident about their death-penalty recommendation, which came after less than two days of deliberation.

    "I did the right thing,'' said one who identified himself only as Michael.

    "Today is going to stay in my mind for the rest of my life,'' said another, George. "And I can live with that.''

    For Palmer's family, the jury's guilty verdicts and the death penalty recommendation ended a long saga.

    "They did it. I can't believe they actually did it,'' Palmer's daughter Tammy Gill told the Daily News after the jury's recommendation. "He'll never get to hurt anyone else. My mom's voice was heard.''
    Palmer was a recovering alcoholic who had been sober for more than two decades, but still attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

    She often sponsored and befriended struggling AA members and took pride in helping them, her family members said.

    Baker, a drug-using, sometimes-homeless handyman, attended the meetings specifically to prey on vulnerable women, prosecutors said. Palmer became friends with him at meetings and in 2001, they started dating. Baker moved in with her a year later.

    "She tried to help a lot of people,'' Gill said. "She tried to help one too many.''

    The relationship soured in 2003, when Palmer believed Baker was using drugs and sleeping around. Palmer later claimed that Baker was stalking her, sometimes breaking into her home and stealing things, relatives said. On April 17, 2004, Palmer went missing.

    In her apartment, authorities found blood and semen on the walls, couch and carpet.

    A migrant worker eventually found Palmer's desiccated body wrapped in towels, near cleaning supplies and shredded photos of Baker and his Jack Russell terrier. The body was so badly decomposed, authorities still aren't sure precisely how she died.

    Police arrested Baker on May 20, 2004, in Reseda.

    Baker's attorneys told the Daily News after the jury's recommendation they were disappointed.

    "It definitely frustrated me how (Baker's outburst) might impact a jury that was trying to decide the life or death of him,'' said attorney Anthony Garcia. "It painted a vivid picture of what everyone thought of him.''

    http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_11470632?source=rss

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Counsel was appointed to represent Baker on direct appeal on March 26, 2012.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S170280

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Baker's direct appeal has been fully briefed before the California Supreme Court since August 7, 2015.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S170280

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On November 3, 2020, oral argument will be heard in Baker's direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/...rs/SNOV320.PDF

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    State Supreme Court Affirms Judgment in Death Penalty Case

    The California Supreme Court Monday affirmed a judgment against a man on death row for raping and murdering his ex-girlfriend, whose decomposing body was discovered in the Palm Springs area.

    Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s opinion on behalf of the full court, written in response to an automatic appeal, began by quoting the victim.

    “Judy Palmer told a friend that she was afraid of defendant Paul Wesley Baker and that `if anything happened to her, he did it.’ Within a few weeks, Palmer disappeared. Her body was found in the desert several weeks later, severely decomposed,” the opinion states.

    Baker, now 59, was sentenced to death in January 2009 after being convicted of first-degree murder, rape and other charges stemming from the 2004 death of Palmer, 60, his former girlfriend and a resident of Reseda.
    Jurors also found Baker guilty of the rape or sodomy of two other victims, one of whom sustained great bodily injury as a result, dating back as far as 1995.

    Baker was acquitted of rape or sodomy charges alleged by three additional women. Evidence was also presented at trial of uncharged assaults against other women, which the defense had argued was unduly prejudicial.

    Palmer’s body — wrapped in blankets and foam padding and tied in a fetal position — was found on May 11, 2004, by a transient near Interstate 10 and Gene Autry Trail in the Palm Springs area.

    Near the skeletal remains, investigators found a dental chart with Palmer’s name, a notice of privacy practices with Baker’s name and a picture with the inscription, “Judy, I’ll always love you, no matter what. I miss you very much. Love Paul B.”

    Authorities were not able to determine how she had been killed.

    At Baker’s sentencing, Judge Susan M. Speer said the killing “took place in revenge and anger” after Palmer rejected the defendant. The judge noted that Baker had demonstrated a “pattern of criminality and violence against women.”

    While he had an “extremely harsh and impoverished childhood,” which may have contributed to his problems with substance abuse, those circumstances did not cause Baker to commit murder, the judge said then.

    Palmer and Baker met through Alcoholics Anonymous. Palmer had been sober for nearly 28 years when she met Baker, who was 17 years her junior, and she was dedicated to helping others in the program, according to the California Supreme Court’s opinion.
    Baker worked for Palmer as a handyman and they had an on-again, off-again relationship that included a period of time living together.

    Both Palmer’s son and her apartment manager testified that Baker made threats against her.

    Los Angeles police said shortly after Baker’s arrest that he and Palmer were involved in a volatile relationship and that he had previously been arrested on April 5, 2004, after forcing his way into Palmer’s apartment.

    Baker was served with a restraining order on April 7 and remained in police custody until April 15, 2004. Palmer was reported missing by relatives three days later. He was arrested the following month and has remained behind bars since then.

    In his opening brief, Baker’s appellate attorney contended that his client’s trial was “decidedly unfair and violated fundamental notions of due process” and that there was insufficient evidence to find that he raped or attempted to rape his ex-girlfriend.

    In its response brief, the California Attorney General’s Office countered that jurors could “reasonably conclude that appellant bound Judy to facilitate his forcible commission of sexual acts against her while she remained alive and thereafter murdered her to prevent her from identifying and inculpating him in the sexual offenses.”

    The California Supreme Court agreed that there was sufficient evidence of a rape, including semen found on her body, a crass statement by Baker to another man that seemed an admission of intercourse, Baker’s propensity for sexual assault, and the victim’s fear of Baker, which may have led jurors to conclude that consensual sex was unlikely.

    The high court did find some errors by the trial court, including in admitting certain DNA evidence at the guilt phase, but concluded that the errors, even taken in combination, were not prejudicial.

    The defense had also challenged the prosecution’s decision to peremptorily excuse two Black potential jurors. The prosecutor said she believed it would be difficult for either of the two to support the death penalty.

    Justice Goodwin H. Liu wrote a brief concurring opinion disagreeing with the court’s precedent for assuming that the trial court appropriately carries out its duty to assess the credibility of a prosecutor’s reasons for striking jurors.

    “I continue to believe the better rule is to require the trial court to affirmatively demonstrate on the record that it has made a sincere and reasoned effort to evaluate the prosecutor’s explanations for a contested strike,” Liu wrote.

    Still, based on a review of the record in this particular case, Liu said he believed the defendant failed to show that the prosecutor’s reasons for striking the two jurors were based on anything other than their demeanor or answers to questionnaires, as opposed to race-based.

    The court declined to revisit its precedent in response to Baker’s challenges to California’s death penalty.

    https://mynewsla.com/crime/2021/02/0...-penalty-case/
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  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On December 23, 2020, Baker filed a habeas petition before the California Supreme Court.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....xTQCAgCg%3D%3D

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    Distributed for conference September 27, 2021.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-7683.html
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    Petition for certiorari denied.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of California
    Case Numbers: (S170280)
    Decision Date: February 1, 2021

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-7683.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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