Wesley Baker

Wesley Eugene Baker (March 26, 1958 – December 5, 2005) was an African-American convicted murderer executed by the U.S. state of Maryland. He was convicted for the June 6, 1991, murder of Jane Frances Tyson, a Caucasian mother and grandmother, in front of two of her grandchildren in Catonsville. He was the last person to be executed in Maryland.[1]

Wesley Baker
Born(1958-03-26)March 26, 1958
U.S.
DiedDecember 5, 2005(2005-12-05) (aged 47)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Cause of deathExecution by lethal injection
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)First-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony (October 26, 1992)
Criminal penaltyDeath by lethal injection
Details
VictimsJane Tyson

Early life

Baker was born to an underage rape victim and suffered physical and sexual abuse during his childhood by his mother, stepfather and two teenage girls.[2][3] At age 15, he fathered a child with a 28-year-old heroin user while himself suffering from alcohol and heroin addiction.[2]

His first criminal conviction was for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle at 16 years old, for which he received 3 years in prison. In 1978, he was convicted of armed robbery and received 15 years in prison. Released after 9 years, he was only a free man for two years, before being arrested again for weapons and drug-related offenses.

Murder

Wesley Baker approached Jane Tyson, 49, on June 6, 1991, in the parking lot of Catonsville's Westview Mall as she got into her car with her grandchildren, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, after shoe shopping.[2][4][5] He placed a gun to her ear and demanded her purse and then, without warning, fired the gun, killing her instantly.[6] He fled to where his accomplice was waiting with a Chevrolet Blazer. A member of the public spotted the two fleeing in a car. He noted the license number and called the police, who apprehended Wesley Baker and Gregory Lawrence a short time later.[7]

Trial and appeals

Baker was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Harford County on October 26, 1992, of first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. Four days later, he was sentenced to death by the same jury as well as forty years in total for the other two charges. The conviction and sentence were upheld by the Maryland Court of Appeals. Lawrence was convicted of the same charges a year earlier and received life in prison plus 33 years.

The court decided to uphold Baker's conviction, but there were doubts raised that Baker was the shooter.[5] The 6-year-old boy said that the shooter ran to the driver's side of the car, while a member of the public said that Baker was sitting in the passenger seat. Tyson's blood was found on Baker,[2] but police never tested the clothing of Lawrence. Fingerprints from Baker's right hand were found on Tyson's car, but Baker is right-handed, which lead the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to note in 2000:

…one must wonder how it was possible for [Baker] to hold the gun to Tyson's head and leave his fingerprints on the [car], especially in light of the fact that the incident took only a matter of moments.

The court also wrote that the evidence that Baker was the shooter "was not overwhelming."

Baker received a stay of execution in 2002, days before he was scheduled to die, when Governor Parris N. Glendening imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in the state to allow a study by Professor Raymond Paternoster of the University of Maryland, College Park to be completed.[2][4] Paternoster later found that the imposition of the death penalty in Maryland is racially biased.[8] Paternoster found that prosecutors are 2.5 times more likely to seek the death penalty in cases where African Americans are accused of murdering Whites than in cases where Whites are accused of murdering Whites.[9][10] It is 3.5 times more likely compared to cases where African Americans are accused of murdering other African Americans. There were also geographical issues, with some counties 13 times more likely to seek the death penalty.

Gary Christopher, who was Baker's lead attorney, tried to use the study to get Baker's sentence overturned. The court denied the appeal on a procedural matter, but did cite a Supreme Court of the United States ruling that held that statistical analyses were not sufficient to show that individual cases were unfairly prosecuted.

On November 28, 2005, William Henry Keeler, Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore, visited Baker in prison. It was the first time the cardinal had visited a death row inmate. After meeting with him, Keeler made a personal plea, together with the two other Catholic bishops in Maryland, for the governor to grant clemency and commute the sentence to life imprisonment without parole.[11] Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lifted the moratorium when he was elected in 2003.[10] Just prior to the execution, Ehrlich released a statement in which he said he had decided to deny clemency.[8][12][13]

Execution

Baker was executed on December 5, 2005, and was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m. EST after being executed by lethal injection.[8] He was the 1002nd execution in the United States since the Gregg v. Georgia decision in 1976.[14]

He was not asked by prison officials if he had a final statement. His lawyers said that he had made his peace and expressed remorse for what he had done. Jennifer McMenamin, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun who witnessed the execution, said that Baker showed little reaction during the injection of the lethal doses of chemicals. His breathing did become more rapid and loud, with a gasping and sucking nature.

Unlike other U.S. states, Maryland does not offer the condemned a special last meal; instead the prisoner receives whatever is on the menu the day of their death. The Department of Corrections said that Baker's last meal consisted of breaded fish, pasta marinara, green beans, orange fruit punch, bread, and milk.[3]

Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.[15][16] On December 31, 2014, Gov. Martin O'Malley commuted the sentences of the final four condemned inmates to life imprisonment,[17] making Baker's execution the last execution in the state of Maryland.[1][15][18]

See also

References
  1. Service, Julia Maldonado Capital News. "Maryland repeals death penalty". Newark Post. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  2. Carlson, Peter (2002-05-10). "For Convicted Killer, A Chance at Life". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  3. Rich, Eric; Vise, Daniel de (2005-12-06). "Maryland Executes Woman's Killer". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  4. "Maryland Death Penalty Moratorium". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  5. http://www.washingtontimes.com, The Washington Times. "Maryland death-row killer files final appeal". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  6. Montgomery, Lori (2001-04-08). "United by Grief, Divided by Execution". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  7. Barnhardt, Laura (3 December 2005). "Wife, mother, teacher, victim". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  8. http://www.washingtontimes.com, The Washington Times. "Maryland executes murderer". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  9. "Race and the Death Penalty". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  10. Howell, Brooke (November 25, 2005). "Maryland Lowest on Short List of States Using Death Penalty". cnsmaryland.org. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  11. November 29; 2005. "Maryland Bishops Ask Gov. Ehrlich to Stay Planned Execution". Archdiocese of Washington. Retrieved 2021-01-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ONLINE, RP (2005-12-06). "Berufungsanträge abgewiesen: Verurteiler Mörder in Maryland hingerichtet". RP ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  13. "Statement from Governor Ehrlich Regarding the Execution of Wesley Baker". msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  14. "The Next to Die". The Marshall Project. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  15. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "'Death penalty abolition has a way to go' | DW | 01.10.2013". DW.COM. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  16. Joe Sutton. "Maryland governor signs death penalty repeal". CNN. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  17. Wagner, John (31 December 2014). "Gov. O'Malley to commute sentences of Maryland's remaining death-row inmates". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  18. "Maryland Death Penalty Opponents Push For Repeal". 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
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