Baker v. State
| Decision Date | 30 June 2021 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 47793 |
| Citation | 169 Idaho 284,494 P.3d 1256 |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Jeffery Alan BAKER, Petitioner-appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, Respondent. |
Ferguson Durham PLLC; Craig H. Durham, Boise, for appellant. Craig H. Durham argued.
Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.
Jeffery Alan Baker appeals from the summary dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. Specifically, Baker appeals the dismissal of a Brady1 claim, two claims of ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to present expert testimony, a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to object to prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument, and a claim of actual innocence. We affirm the district court's summary dismissal of Baker's actual innocence claim and his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. We reverse, however, the court's summary dismissal of Baker's Brady claim and remand this case for an evidentiary hearing.
A jury convicted Baker of first degree murder of his eleven-week-old daughter, G.B. Baker's girlfriend gave birth to G.B. in February 2010. When G.B. was born, she tested positive for drugs, and the Department of Health and Welfare took custody of her. The Department allowed Baker to have custody of G.B. during the week, while her mother had custodial visitation on the weekends. Because Baker worked during the weekdays, he hired his former girlfriend to care for G.B. during the day.
During the weekend of May 8, G.B.’s mother had custodial visitation, and Baker picked G.B. up Sunday evening. On Monday morning, May 10, Baker dropped G.B. off at the babysitter's home before work. The babysitter testified G.B. was spitting up, vomiting, and crying more than usual that day. The babysitter called Baker and told him about G.B.’s crying, and Baker left work early to pick up G.B. and then took her home.
On the way home, Baker spoke to his neighbors and told them G.B had been fussing and crying, but the neighbor testified G.B. appeared normal and was not fussing or crying. Later, while in Baker's care at home, G.B. stopped breathing. Baker alerted his neighbors who called 911. The first responders resurrected G.B. and transported her to the hospital. She died several days later, however, after she was removed from life support.
As a result of G.B.’s death, the State charged Baker with first degree murder, alleging Baker killed G.B. by shaking her or causing blunt force trauma to her head
. Baker pled not guilty and proceeded to trial in January 2012. The trial ended in a mistrial, however, and the district court scheduled a second trial for April 2013.
In preparation for the second trial, the State disclosed for the first time in August 2012 that it intended to present Brian Keim's testimony at trial. Keim was an inmate incarcerated with Baker in 2011 at the Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI). In June 2011, Keim contacted Detective Oster, a Boise City Police Officer who had investigated G.B.’s death, and informed Detective Oster that Baker had confessed to killing G.B. Detective Oster and the prosecutor met with Keim in July 2011. As a result of the prosecution's disclosure of Keim as a witness, Baker's public defenders notified the district court that they represented Keim in 2011 and had a conflict of interest. Thereafter, a private attorney (hereafter "trial counsel") substituted for the public defender's office to represent Baker. The same day trial counsel appeared on Baker's behalf, he served a request on the State for the disclosure of exculpatory Brady material.
The second trial occurred in April 2013 and lasted eight days. The State called twenty-one witnesses, including Keim who was the State's first witness. Keim testified that Baker confessed to killing G.B. and described how Baker claimed her death occurred. On direct examination, Keim testified that, while incarcerated with Baker in June 2011, Baker offered Keim $10,000 to advise Baker on his defense; Keim reviewed a copy of the police report regarding G.B.’s death at Baker's request; and at Keim's prompting, Baker told him "what really happened" and confessed to causing G.B.’s death. According to Keim, Baker told him that G.B. was "screeching and crying" at "supersonic levels"; "the baby wouldn't stop crying and he just kind of snapped, freaked out"; and "he said he blacked out and he kind of marched into the bedroom and grabbed the baby and just slammed her on the bed really hard and said, ‘Shut the f--k up.’ "
Keim then demonstrated for the jury how Baker was "slamming [G.B.] on the bed." Keim further testified, Baker left the room and returned to find G.B. "unconscious and slumped over"; Baker "panicked" and tried "to make it look like an accident by choking on formula"; and he "forced formula into her mouth and her nose." Keim also testified that Baker confessed he had previously shaken the baby on other occasions before May 10.
Keim further testified that, after Baker's confession, Keim "was feeling pretty outraged, not just for the fact [Baker] was saying this, but he didn't really care" and "[h]is only concern was ... to get out of this." Regardless, Keim proceeded to advise Baker on his defense, testifying: "I wrote down a full page of what I think his best approach was [for a defense], you know his only hope as far as I was concerned." Then, Keim contacted the police, specifically Detective Oster, who Keim knew had investigated G.B.’s death. Keim then met with Detective Oster and the prosecutor in July 2011 and again in August 2012. Keim testified that the State did not give him anything in exchange for his testimony.
On cross-examination, Baker's counsel attempted to impeach Keim with inconsistent statements he made during his interviews with Detective Oster and the prosecutor, including Keim's description of G.B.’s crying as "supersonic"; of Baker slamming versus bouncing G.B. on the bed; of Baker "blacking out"; and of Baker squirting, blowing, or forcing formula down G.B.’s throat. Further, during cross-examination, Keim acknowledged he asked Detective Oster for help with an upcoming parole hearing but testified that "they never helped me." He also acknowledged, however, that he was transferred from ISCI, a medium security facility, to St. Anthony Work Camp (SAWC), a minimum security facility, but claimed that "they didn't have anything to do with that."
On re-direct, Keim testified that the day after meeting with the prosecutor in July 2011, he requested to be placed in protective custody because he was concerned about other inmates "calling [him] a rat" and getting into confrontations "over it." The prosecutor inquired whether Keim's transfer to SAWC "was due to you wanting protection or because we gave you something." Keim responded, Explaining why he contacted Detective Oster about Baker's confession, Keim testified he felt badly for the mother and "didn't want an innocent person's name getting drug through the mud" because he had advised Keim "to make it look like somebody else did it."
While Keim was the State's first witness at trial, its last witness was the ISCI "facility move coordinator." The coordinator testified that she was responsible for tracking information about inmates’ transfers in and out of ISCI; this information was recorded in a computer system; and altering or changing the information once entered in the computer was not possible. Further, the coordinator testified about how an inmate qualified for a transfer to a different facility under a "matrix" point system. According to the coordinator, under this matrix system an inmate with lower points may qualify for housing in a lower level security facility, like SAWC. The coordinator also testified that she looked at Keim's placement records; they showed Keim transferred to SAWC sometime after July 2011; and no detective or law enforcement officer, including the prosecutor, talked to her about moving Keim from ISCI to SAWC. Finally, the coordinator testified that she could not recall why Keim was transferred to SAWC but that the only way Keim would have qualified for such a transfer was if he qualified under the matrix system for minimum security.
In between Keim's testimony and the testimony of the ISCI facility move coordinator, the State also presented numerous other witnesses, including witnesses who testified about the medical issues in the case. This medical testimony included testimony from a treating pediatric critical care specialist; a treating pediatric ophthalmologist; the radiologist who read the chest Xrays, MRI, and CT scans
(imaging) of G.B. after her admission to the hospital; a consulting pediatrician; a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy; an ophthalmologist with a specialty in ophthalmic pathology; and a retained expert neuropathologist. The State's medical testimony was conflicting. For this reason, the State's theory was Baker had caused G.B.’s death either by blunt force trauma or, alternatively, by shaking.
The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. Garrison, testified that he did not find any external signs of injury, except a bruise on the right side of the head, which no one had previously noticed and which he acknowledged the medical care providers may have possibly caused. Dr. Garrison also did not find any injuries to the spinal canal, the neck, or any broken bones. Dr. Garrison did note, however, cerebral venous thrombosis
(CVT), a blood clot in one or more of the cerebral veins in the brain. Specifically, he found several dilated vessels in the brain "appeared to be clotted." Although he included this finding in a letter to a consulting pathologist, he did not include the...
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