Baker asks to delay his case

Lawyers also seek bench trial, end of substance-abuse tests

Gilbert Baker reads a statement on Jan. 24, 2019, outside the federal courthouse in Little Rock after he pleaded innocent to federal charges of bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.
Gilbert Baker reads a statement on Jan. 24, 2019, outside the federal courthouse in Little Rock after he pleaded innocent to federal charges of bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.

Gilbert Baker, a former lobbyist and fundraiser who is facing federal bribery, conspiracy and mail-fraud charges, has asked to postpone his trial beyond its April 27 setting, citing "voluminous" discovery and complex legal issues that his attorneys must review.

He also has asked, over the objections of federal prosecutors, that the trial be heard by a judge instead of a jury.

In addition, the former state senator from Conway and past chairman of the state Republican Party has asked that his pre-trial release conditions, set over a year ago, be amended to allow him to drink alcohol and be free from random testing for drugs and alcohol.

On Jan. 24, 2019, when Baker pleaded innocent to the charges, he was released on conditions that also required him to undergo substance abuse therapy and counseling. But in motions filed Monday evening, defense attorneys Blake Hendrix and Annie Depper of Little Rock said he successfully completed a 30-day inpatient treatment program and later received outpatient counseling.

In 2016, Baker pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and refusing to take a breath test. A toxicology report later showed that he tested positive for methamphetamine after his arrest.

"He has been subject to random prohibited substance testing and has been the subject of a violation report involving alcohol in which no action was requested," the defense attorneys wrote. "He has otherwise been in compliance with all release conditions," which were set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris.

While asking Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to remove the condition that Baker not use alcohol at all, the attorneys asked the court to "add the condition that he not use alcohol excessively."

"To give the court a reasonable assurance that Baker will abide by the conditions, he asks that the court continue the condition that he participate in outpatient substance abuse counseling and that the court appoint Baker's wife, Susan, as his third-party custodian," the motion said. It noted that Susan Baker is prepared to testify that she will report any excessive use of alcohol by her husband to the court.

Gilbert Baker, whose charges cost him an executive position he held at the University at Central Arkansas in Conway, where he still teaches music, is accused of being the middleman in a purported effort to bribe Michael Maggio, a former Faulkner County circuit judge. Maggio is serving a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to taking a bribe to lower a $5.2 million jury verdict against a nursing home to $1 million.

The nursing home's owner, Michael Morton of Fort Smith, donated $30,000 to 10 political action committees in 2013, the same day his attorneys asked Maggio to vacate or cut the jury award. Ten checks made out to the PACs arrived at Baker's home on July 9, 2013, a day before Maggio sliced the jury award in a family's lawsuit against the home over the death of 76-year-old Martha Bull of Perryville.

Maggio later got some of the money, even though Morton said he wanted it to go to Maggio's judicial campaign and has said it wasn't an attempt to influence the lawsuit's outcome. Morton hasn't been charged with a crime.

In Monday's motion waiving Baker's right to a trial by jury, his attorneys noted that under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, federal prosecutors must consent to a nonjury trial.

The motion notes that the government objects to his request, but said its ability to withhold consent "is not absolute."

"Granted, only a few courts have ruled in favor of a bench trial over the government's objection," the motion noted. "But, exceptions exist." It then provided some examples.

Hendrix and Depper argued that Baker's case is one of the "rare and exceptional" cases in which a court can exercise its discretion to permit a nonjury trial even when federal prosecutors withhold their consent.

They noted that a 21-page indictment Baker faces includes nine charges -- bribery and mail-fraud conspiracy, bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds and seven counts of honest services fraud. The conspiracy count, they noted, is complex, in that it alleges the participation of at least two unindicted co-conspirators and lists 63 "overt acts," which are the actions said to comprise the conspiracy.

"The overt acts expand into allegations involving complex issues of state campaign finance and judicial election laws and regulations that should be decided by a judge, not a jury," the defense attorneys argued.

As an example, they said the indictment accuses Baker of raising funds outside a 180-day period for campaign committees to solicit and accept campaign contributions for state judicial candidates, which "requires a correct interpretation of Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct 4.4, a task best suited for a judge."

The attorneys also filed a sealed motion on Baker's behalf.

Metro on 02/19/2020

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