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Thread: Patrick Baker Sentenced to 42 Years in 2014 KY Slaying of Donald Mills

  1. #1
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    Patrick Baker Sentenced to 42 Years in 2014 KY Slaying of Donald Mills





    Matt Bevin pardoned a convicted killer. Now feds have recharged Patrick Baker with murder

    By Billy Kobin, Joe Sonka and Andrew Wolfson
    Louisville Courier Journal

    LONDON, Ky. — Patrick Baker seemed to get away with homicide when lame duck Republican Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned him in 2019 for fatally shooting Donald Mills five years earlier during a Knox County home invasion.

    But federal authorities are now trying to get a second bite out of the apple.

    In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted Baker for using a firearm to murder Mills’ during a drug trafficking offense, namely a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. The crime is punishable by death.

    Although the Constitution’s protection against double jeopardy says no person shall be prosecuted twice for the same crime, the U.S. Supreme Court says state and federal prosecutors may do just that if the same act is an offense against both governments.

    Baker, 43, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Frankfort Sunday and booked into the Laurel County Correctional Center shortly after 12:15 a.m. Monday.

    Then federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment charging him with murder during a robbery and kidnapping.

    Bevin's pardon of Baker — one of hundreds issued at the end of the governor's term — became particularly controversial when The Courier Journal reported Baker's family had hosted a fundraiser at their Corbin home the year prior to retire debt from Bevin's 2015 gubernatorial campaign.

    The 2018 fundraiser, which Bevin attended, raised $21,500 for the Republican governor.

    Baker's brother and sister-in-law gave $4,000 to Bevin’s campaign on the day of the fundraiser, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance database.

    "We knew corruption was involved with the former pardon of Patrick Baker," Melinda Mills — Donald Mills' sister — said Monday in a message. "He knows he's guilty so does everybody else."

    The federal indictment says Baker used a Kel-tec 9mm handgun during the May 2014 home invasion in Knox County. He also faces a drug trafficking charge related to a "conspiracy to distribute a quantity of pills containing oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance."

    His lawyer, Patrick Renn, had no immediate comment.

    If convicted on the new federal charges, Baker could face life in prison or the death penalty.

    Campaigning for president, Joe Biden promised to introduce legislation to prohibit capital punishment for federal crimes, but, so far, he's taken no steps to do so.

    The ATF and Kentucky State Police led the investigation that resulted in Baker's federal indictment, according to Tuesday's news release.

    Baker entered a not-guilty plea Tuesday afternoon at his arraignment hearing in U.S. District Court in London. His detention hearing is scheduled for Friday, and he will remain held in federal custody until then.

    In addition to Renn, Baker had Louisville attorney Steven Romines present at the hearing.

    Baker, who was wearing a mask, acknowledged that he understood as the judge read his rights and explained how he could face the death penalty.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Reed told Judge Hanly A. Ingram any decision on seeking the death penalty would have to come from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    Ingram set a trial date of Aug. 10.

    Melinda Mills told The Courier Journal earlier this week that an ATF agent contacted her Monday morning to say Baker was arrested again in connection with her brother's death.

    She attended the hearing Tuesday with her mother and son, wearing a black shirt featuring a photo her brother and the words "Justice for Donald” and “May Justice Be Served Thou Shalt Not Kill.”

    Mills told The Courier Journal she is not allowed to talk about details of the case, but said she is glad Baker is in custody and "it’s a long process.”

    In 2017, a Knox County jury convicted Baker of reckless homicide, first-degree robbery, tampering with evidence and impersonating a police officer in connection with the fatal shooting of Mills during a home invasion.

    The lure of $50,000 to $75,000 worth of pain pills had tempted Baker and several of his friends to carry out the robbery that turned fatal, according to one of his accomplices and court records.

    Baker was one of five co-conspirators, and the jury sent him to prison to serve 19 years.

    But on Dec. 6, 2019, Kentucky's outgoing Republican governor granted Baker a pardon and set him free just two years into his sentence.

    At a press conference just days after the pardon, Chicago-based defense attorney Elliott Slosar told the public that Baker was innocent, the victim of police misconduct and a "botched" investigation led by state police Detective Bryan Johnson, who took the lead on investigating Mills' death.

    Dismissing the evidence against Baker as "sketchy at best," Bevin challenged The Courier Journal to examine the case.

    However, a weekslong Courier Journal investigation into the case against Baker found the state's evidence to be overwhelming and the argument for his innocence thin.

    In his final days as governor after losing reelection to then-Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, Bevin granted pardons or commutations to 670 offenders.

    Numerous pardons drew the ire of victims and prosecutors, including one for Dayton Jones, who had been convicted in a brutal sodomy case that almost killed a 15-year-old boy.

    Last April, Jones was charged with a federal offense stemming from the same crime — producing child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

    Bevin did not immediately return an email and text message seeking his reaction to Baker's federal indictment.

    Asked if the FBI's Louisville office is still investigating the circumstances of Bevin's pardons, spokesman Tim Beam said the agency is not commenting any further than what was in U.S. Attorney's Office release on Baker.

    Gov. Andy Beshear applauded the prosecutors and said it was "good news," when asked about the new indictment during a press conference Tuesday.

    "I had grave concerns that our last governor — without doing the homework, and in direct contradiction to such significant evidence, and to a jury that sat there and heard it all — pardoned someone who the evidence strongly suggests committed murder," Beshear said.

    Beshear added: "To the extent that there are other pardons out there that were as bad as this one, and then there are federal charges that are available? Keep it up."

    The new federal indictment was announced by Carlton S. Shier, IV, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Shawn Morrow, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives Louisville Field Office; and Col. Phillip Burnett, Jr., the commissioner of Kentucky State Police.

    The Supreme Court ruled as early 1922 that a person can be convicted in state and federal courts of the same acts because each government is a “separate sovereignty.” The court has been asked to overrule the dual sovereignty doctrine in a number of cases and has repeatedly declined to do so.

    No federal inmates have been executed since Biden’s inauguration.

    Louisville attorney Kent Wicker, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said the Justice Department in prior administrations has used a committee to make a recommendation to the attorney general about whether prosecutors may seek the death penalty. The committee would hear from the local U.S. Attorney as well as from defense counsel before making a recommendation, Wicker said.

    https://courier-journal.com/story/ne...er/5289412001/
    Last edited by Steven; 05-13-2022 at 09:57 AM.

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    Convicted killer pardoned by former KY governor will remain in jail on federal charges

    By WLKY Digital Team

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A convicted killer pardoned by former Gov. Matt Bevin will remain in jail pending trial on federal murder charges.

    A judge ruled in June that Patrick Baker could be placed on home incarceration while he waiting for his trial. But on Thursday, a federal judge revoked that order, citing new evidence that Baker regularly used drugs when he was previously on house arrest pending his state trial.

    Baker was convicted of killing Donald Mills during a 2014 home invasion in Knox County. His attorneys said DNA and eyewitness evidence didn't match.

    After Bevin issued the controversial pardon in 2019, federal prosecutors reviewed the case. Critics of the pardon point to the fact that in 2018, Bevin attended a political fundraiser at Baker's family's home. The event raised more than $20,000 for Bevin.

    Baker's attorney said the pardon was not politically motivated.

    The federal investigators called the claims by Baker's attorneys about the evidence "ignorant." He was then arrested again in June by U.S. Marshals and taken to the Laurel County Jail.

    Baker is now facing a federal murder charge that could carry the death penalty.

    If Baker had not been pardoned, he would have been behind bars until at least July 2027, when he would have become eligible for parole.

    https://www.wlky.com/article/rossen-...-tips/36904937
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Judge says no one can mention Matt Bevin pardon at Patrick Baker's trial next month

    By Andrew Wolfson
    Louisville Courier Journal


    LONDON, Ky. — Neither the prosecution nor the defense at Patrick Baker’s federal murder trial next month will be permitted to mention he was previously convicted in 2017 of reckless homicide — or that he was pardoned by then-Gov. Matt Bevin.

    Baker’s lawyers contended they needed to present evidence that Baker was tried previously in state court — but acquitted of murder.

    They also wanted to tell the jury in his federal trial that Baker was pardoned to prove the federal government is now selectively prosecuting him.

    But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Rargued in a trial memorandum the state court trial and pardon were irrelevant and mentioning them would be impermissible under federal rules of evidence.

    At a pretrial conference Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Claria Horn Boom agreed and said neither side could mention Bevin’s clemency or the result of the state court trial.

    She cited federal appeals court rulings that held selective prosecution is not a matter for juries to consider.

    Baker was convicted in 2017 by a Knox Circuit Court jury of reckless homicide and other charges for the death of drug dealer Donald Mills during a robbery three years earlier.

    But as he left office in 2019, Bevin pardoned Baker, who had served only two years of a 19-year sentence.

    Then, on May 27, federal prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment of Baker for causing the death of Mills while armed with a gun during a drug-trafficking offense.

    The maximum penalty for the crime is death, although President Joe Biden has indicated the Justice Department won’t seek the death penalty during his administration.

    A trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 9 in London, Kentucky. Baker, who has pleaded not guilty, is being held in jail without bail.

    In a separate investigation, the FBI and Kentucky Attorney General’s office are exploring whether Bevin issued the pardon because Baker's brother and sister-in-law held a fundraiser at their Corbin, Kentucky, home in 2018 that raised $21,500 to retire Bevin’s campaign debt.

    Bevin, who attended the party, has denied he granted clemency to Baker because of the donations.

    Boom’s ruling means the trial next month is unlikely to shed any light on Bevin's pardon.

    https://www.courier-journal.com/stor...on/5404173001/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Wilso
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    Feds won’t seek death for Kentucky man facing murder charge after state pardon

    Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty if a jury convicts a Kentucky man facing a federal murder charge after being pardoned on an earlier state homicide conviction.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna E. Reed filed a notice on the decision Friday in the case against Patrick Baker.

    Baker is set to go to trial next week on a charge that he shot and killed a drug dealer in Knox County in 2014 in relation to a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone pain pills.

    Federal authorities have argued Baker and another man intended to rob Donald Mills of pills and money. Mills was shot in the chest when two men pushed their way into his house.

    A jury convicted Baker of reckless homicide in Mills’ death in 2017, and a judge sentenced him to 19 years in prison.

    Just two years later, however, then-Gov. Matt Bevin commuted Baker’s sentence and pardoned him. That has been controversial because members of Baker’s family held a political fundraiser for Bevin in 2018.

    The woman dating Baker at that time later told the authorities she believed the fundraiser played a crucial role in getting Baker out of prison, but Bevin has adamantly denied the event had anything to do with the pardon.

    Federal authorities later opened a case on Baker and a grand jury indicted him in May. Unlike in the state case, the federal charge will require prosecutors to prove Baker was involved in a drug trafficking scheme to convict him.

    Baker has denied he killed Mills.

    The penalties if Baker is convicted in federal court range from any term of years, including life, or death, but the government’s decision announced Friday means Baker will not face the death penalty if convicted.

    https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/...253314748.html

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    Kentucky man convicted in killing after governor's pardon

    LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A man pardoned by Kentucky's former governor for a 2014 drug robbery killing has been convicted for the same slaying in federal court after a two-week trial.

    Federal prosecutors brought charges against Patrick Baker after he was released from prison when former Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned him on his way out of office in 2019. Baker's family had political connections to Bevin, including hosting a fundraiser for the one-term governor.

    A federal jury in eastern Kentucky convicted Baker Wednesday on a charge of murder committed during a drug trafficking crime after about six hours of deliberation over two days.

    U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom will sentence Baker, 43, on Dec. 21. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty, but Baker could serve life in prison on the conviction.

    "At its core, this case was about one thing: Patrick Baker’s role in the death of Donald Mills," Carlton Shier, the acting U.S. Attorney for eastern Kentucky, said in a news release Wednesday. “Having heard the evidence, the jury found him guilty.”

    Baker was convicted of reckless homicide in Donald Mills’ death in state court in 2017. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison, but Bevin's pardon released him and erased the conviction. Bevin called the evidence against Baker “sketchy,” though the former governor did not mention his ties to Baker's family.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/kentucky-man-convicted-in-killing-after-governor-s-pardon/ar-AANK0Ac
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
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    Pardoned Kentucky killer sentenced to 42 years in prison

    By Dylan Lovan
    Associated Press

    LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A man pardoned by Kentucky’s former governor for a 2014 drug robbery killing will return to prison to serve a 42-year federal sentence for the same crime.

    Patrick Baker was convicted of murder committed during a drug trafficking crime last year in a federal trial. He had been out of prison since 2019 when former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned him for the slaying of Donald Mills.

    But media reports that Baker's family had political connections to Bevin and hosted a fundraiser for the former Republican governor put a spotlight on the case. Federal authorities brought new charges against Baker for the killing in May, and he was convicted in August.

    At a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in London, Baker, 43, was sentenced to 42 years in prison, but he was credited for 30 months served on the previous conviction. He was facing a maximum of life in prison.

    “Baker was convicted of a brazen act of violence — one that resulted in a murder, committed while the victim’s family was nearby," Carlton Shier, U.S. Attorney for the Kentucky's eastern district, said in a news release Tuesday night. Shier said law enforcement and the trial team's "faithful efforts were critical to the verdict, conviction, and sentence.”

    Baker was convicted of killing Mills, a drug dealer in Knox County, while trying to rob Mills of cash and pain pills. Baker posed as a U.S. Marshal during the crime. Mills’ pregnant wife and children were held at gunpoint while Baker ransacked the home for oxycodone pills.

    Attorneys for Baker had asked the judge ahead of the hearing to limit Baker's sentence to a maximum of 19 years, which would have matched the punishment that was wiped away by Bevin's pardon. U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom denied that request.

    Federal prosecutors said Baker was prosecuted the second time under the “dual sovereignty doctrine,” which allows state and federal officials to prosecute the same defendant for the same actions without infringing on double jeopardy protections.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/pardoned-kentucky-killer-sentenced-to-42-years-in-prison/ar-AASUMIH
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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