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Updated at 10:45 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A defendant remanded into custody following a jury trial fled a courtroom and reportedly fought with a corrections officer down the stairwell and out into the street in Chehalis yesterday.
Responding deputies assisted in detaining the man outside the building, on Main Street near its intersection with Chehalis Avenue, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
John C. Baker, 49, of Chehalis, was on trial in Lewis County Superior Court, on the fourth floor of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center.
Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dusty Breen said the incident began about 10 minutes before 5 p.m. in Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom.
The corrections officer ordered Baker to stop, and when he caught up with Baker, a physical altercation ensued during which the officer was assaulted, Breen said.
Baker was taken to the jail where he was booked for new offenses of first-degree escape, resisting arrest and custodial assault, according to Breen.
He had been free on $10,000 bail, but was convicted yesterday of harassment, stalking and other charges.
“He was facing a substantial sentence,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sheila Weirth said.
Escape is a class B felony, with a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted, according to Weirth.
The Lewis County Law and Justice Center at the corner of Main Street and Chehalis Avenue contains courtrooms on the top two floors and the sheriff’s office on the main level. The Lewis County Jail is adjacent to it at street level.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
So turns out I got one thing to say I’m sorry kathy harmon because I’m sure u endured a lot of crap .just as I have .just sad he gets away with all the hurt he causes people.with him being sent to prison it will be good for all around
What goes around comes around. Hopefully the next generation of Bakers will take a different path.
Worthless excuse for a man. In and out of jail, on and off meth his entire life, cocky motormouth son of a bitch … How many of us are his that he has neglected or walked away from???
I don’t know who you are peacemaker but obviously you don’t know what you are talking about not pointing fingers at johns attorney. I guess you didn’t watch the case at all. When tls a recess johns attorney never once talked to him and when john had something to say about the case he said it was irrelevant to find out later during the trial it was relevant. So before you go and open your mouth maybe you should know what your talking about and the only person responsible for john getting 96 months is the one who lied through her testimony, kathy Harmon, she got a no contact order on john and then she would hunt him down and when she find out where he was then she called the cops saying he was harassing her. Like I said he lost on lies that kathy harmon said. It is bullshit.
By the way peacemaker if asking for a fair trial and adequate defense makes me a criminal then so be it, however I have never been in trouble with the law. The real criminal is the person who made false accusations and lied on the stand. There are real abuse victims out there who need help and eveytime a person is found lying about it the harder it becomes to get it. And I forgot to ask why she wasn’t chargedfor breaking the no contact order as she was ordered by the judge not to sell Johnny things and he lost his stuffed Wendell and Wendell and with the away stuff to be work this whole life for a nut she had nothing to do with the window away as she sold it off piece by piece yes she was not given the breaking of the protection order when it was clearly stated in the protection order something else to consider
let me start off by saying that John Carl Baker is not Cemetery John I believe the jury also got this confused as this was not clarified during trial I have never seen or witnessed amor Ludacris trial in mind tire life the defense was non-existent Johnny had 17 people waiting to testify none of them were called none of them were contacted by the lawyer no one. is that a fair defense so if you take into account every other thing let’s ust follow the letter of the law he is entitled by constitutional right to have adequate defense he was not given that ,that alone is basis for mistrial. Johnny is not perfect he never claimed he was and fully admits to making mistakes. But I know for an absoliute fact that he is inncocent of these allegations and could and would testify to the fact the defense lawyer told Johnny it was irrelevant however the prosecution must have thought it relevant because they brought the backstory up and still the defense did not call rebuttal witnesses. Johnny said he would do his time and be okay with it if it was for something he did. But to face 96 months for something you didn’t do? Who would be anywhere near okay w that? Johnny post vid son to suicide in may and has been struggling with a grief to deep for words. Then he’s told he can’t see his other son because of Kathy’s nonsense( noone had yet to think about why after four yrs she didn’t start screaming abuse till he got a girlfriend) so he can’t see his other boy then in trial he hears that boy is afraid of him. The boy that used to sleep w him every night. That’s when Johnny ran he did not run when he heard the guilty verdict, even though he wasn’t guilty. He didn’t run when he heard it could be 96 months, he did not run when the revoked bail, he ran when he heard about his sons fear of him. I believe Johnny snapped. His only thought to see his son one more time to ease his fears. I’m disgusted at the way this was handled from begining to end. And wondering why any statements made in johnnys defense don’t get to stay posted for long when I see the others remain unhindered ?….just saying
John Bakers convictions cannot be blamed on anyone but him. To point fingers at the attorney and try to minimize or defend Johns actions just shows there are more criminals out there like him. Thank you Jury members for finding him guilty. He deserves every day he gets.
No this is not the john c. Baker of green cemetery
I have experienced both good and bad public defenders. Both Rachel Tiller and Don Blair were excellent attorney’s and worked very hard. Mrs. Tiller had found many reasons to overturn a conviction on appeal, so many that the judge stopped her about half way through and overturned my case. Don Blair came to watch a case that went to trial I was in and he wasn’t my attorney for that case but represented my in another matter. I have much respect for both of these attorneys. I do agree that they are given to many cases but to say they dont work hard as a public defender would be wrong.
It is true the court appointed lawyers wont fight for you, speaking from personal experience here..
“If you can’t afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you”. Just because you are poor and without funds or assets doesn’t mean that you should get a crappy defense. I think that many of these people, who got 15 minutes of defense from a court appointed attorney before being he made the plea deal and they were sentenced to a long term in jail or state prison, could appeal based on inadequate defense. Just because your attorney is being paid by the state doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be given an adequate defense.
The situation as it is, the lesson here is that you should stretch to find the money to pay a good defense attorney unless you would rather save your money and spend the time. I’ve seen an excellent criminal attorney, coming from outside of Lewis County, get a defendant completely free of a felony assault charge which would have put the publicly funded defendant in prison for at least a couple of years. It cost her family $30k but was definitely worth it to this person who now is out of that situation and has a great new life.
If he was innocent it is too bad that he has now added another felony that he is guilty of. Tough position to be in if the weight of the system falls on you.
The problem with the Lawyers is they have to many clients to defend and not enough time to do it. If you really wanted to do a news story Sharyon. Investigate how big each lawyers case load is they talk to their clients and ask how many hours or seconds did they talk with their clients for. I know you wont investigate because if you make waves in there dungeon they wont work with you anymore. Thats the sad situation about journalism today, you have to stay inside the lines to get the so called real story. Do the public a favor and prove the lawyers are not spending any time with their clients and then charging the state for false hours.
Well at least the court security officers didn’t take a shot at him like they did Pinotti:)
https://lewiscountysirens.com/?p=28955
I guess this is not the John C. Baker of Greenwood Cemetery fame.
John was innocent on his charges. He did nothing wrong. He had a shitty attorney that would not listen to what john was telling him. His attorney never called on any of his.witnesses. it was a bullshit case. His ex kathy harmon lied through the whole trial and so did her boyfriend adam taylor. They plotted this against john keeping his child from him and using the child as a pon to get to john. Lewis county screwed him over on this case. It should have been a miss trial when they caught the jury talking about the case outside the court room. John is a innocent man.