Wesley Baker
Encyclopedia
Wesley Eugene Baker was a convicted murder
er executed by the U.S. state
of Maryland
. He was convicted for the June 6, 1991, murder of Jane Tyson in Catonsville
. He was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m. EST after being executed
by lethal injection
.
as she got into her car with her grandchildren, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, after shoe shopping. He placed a gun to her ear and demanded her purse and then, without warning, fired the gun, killing her instantly. 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.
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.
There have been doubts raised that Baker was the shooter. The 6-year-old girl said that the shooter ran to the driver 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, but police never tested the clothing of Lawrence. Fingerprint
s 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:
The court also wrote that the evidence that Baker was the shooter "was not overwhelming." The court did decide to uphold Baker's conviction, however.
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. Paternoster later found that the imposition of the death penalty in Maryland is racially biased. Paternoster found that prosecutors are 2.5 times more likely to seek the death penalty in cases where African American
s are accused of murdering Whites than in cases where Whites are accused of murdering Whites. 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 is 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 for the governor to grant clemency and commute the sentence to life imprisonment without parole. Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lifted the moratorium when he was elected in 2003. Just prior to the execution, Ehrlich released a statement in which he said he had decided to deny clemency.
decision in 1976.
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 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 bean
s, orange
fruit punch
, bread
, and milk
.
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er executed by the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. He was convicted for the June 6, 1991, murder of Jane Tyson in Catonsville
Catonsville, Maryland
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:In 2010 Catonsville had a population of 41,567...
. He was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m. EST after being executed
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
.
Early life
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 MallWestview Mall
Westview Mall was an indoor mall located in Catonsville, Maryland. The mall originally opened in 1958 as an outdoor strip mall, but was later converted into an indoor shopping center . The original anchors were Hutzler's and Stewart's although Stewart's became Caldor in 1983...
as she got into her car with her grandchildren, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, after shoe shopping. He placed a gun to her ear and demanded her purse and then, without warning, fired the gun, killing her instantly. He fled to where his accomplice was waiting with a Chevrolet Blazer
Chevrolet Blazer
Chevrolet Blazer can refer to one of several SUV models from General Motors:* The full-size Chevrolet K5 Blazer, based on the C/K pickup chassis and built from 1969 to 1994....
. 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.
Trial and appeals
Baker was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Harford County on October 26, 1992, of first-degree murder, robberyRobbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
with a deadly weapon
Deadly weapon
A deadly weapon, sometimes dangerous weapon, is a statutory definition listing certain items which can inflict mortal or great bodily harm. In addition, deadly weapon statutes often contain "catch all" provisions which describe abilities used to designate other implements as deadly weapons.Whether...
, and use of a handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
in the commission of a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
. 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
Maryland Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals of Maryland is the supreme court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief judge and six associate judges, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis...
. Lawrence was convicted of the same charges a year earlier and received life in prison plus 33 years.
There have been doubts raised that Baker was the shooter. The 6-year-old girl said that the shooter ran to the driver 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, but police never tested the clothing of Lawrence. Fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s 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
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
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." The court did decide to uphold Baker's conviction, however.
Baker received a stay of execution in 2002, days before he was scheduled to die, when Governor
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...
Parris N. Glendening imposed a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
on the death penalty in the state to allow a study by Professor Raymond Paternoster of the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
to be completed. Paternoster later found that the imposition of the death penalty in Maryland is racially biased. Paternoster found that prosecutors are 2.5 times more likely to seek the death penalty in cases where African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s are accused of murdering Whites than in cases where Whites are accused of murdering Whites. 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 is 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
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruling that held that statistical analyses were not sufficient to show that individual cases were unfairly prosecuted.
On November 28, 2005, William Henry Keeler
William Henry Keeler
William Henry Keeler is an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1989 to 2007 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1994....
, Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Archbishop of Baltimore
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Baltimore as well as Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, and Washington Counties in Maryland...
, 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 for the governor to grant clemency and commute the sentence to life imprisonment without parole. Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lifted the moratorium when he was elected in 2003. Just prior to the execution, Ehrlich released a statement in which he said he had decided to deny clemency.
Execution
Baker was executed by a lethal injection on December 5, 2005. It was the 1002nd execution in the United States since the Gregg v. GeorgiaGregg v. Georgia
Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153 , reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon...
decision in 1976.
He was not asked by prison officials if he had a final statement
Final statement
When a criminal is convicted and sentenced to capital punishment, the criminal can make a final statement, or his "last words", before being executed. Much of the time, the last word is an apology to family, friends, or God. Sometimes though, a final statement includes words of hatred, disgust, or...
. His lawyers said that he had made his peace and expressed remorse for what 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
Last meal
The last meal is a customary part of a condemned prisoner's last day. Often, the day of, or before, the appointed time of execution, the prisoner receives a last meal, as well as religious rites, if they desire. In the United States, inmates generally may not ask for an alcoholic drink...
; 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
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
marinara
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
, green bean
Green bean
Green beans , also known as French beans , are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern and western United States, but can also be...
s, orange
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
fruit punch
Punch (drink)
Punch is the term for a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from India to England in the early seventeenth century; from there its use spread to other countries...
, bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
, and milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
.