A Pennsylvania man who was caught on tape as he beat up a mentally-challenged person earlier this year cried like a baby on Wednesday as he begged the court for mercy.
Judge William Mahon did not hold back when it came to how he felt about 29-year-old Barry Robert Baker Jr., the man who brutally attacked a 22-year-old man with cerebral palsy in May.
“You are a bully. You are a predator,” Mahon said at the hearing earlier this week. “You are a coward. In 18 years on the bench I have never had such tangible evidence of someone’s moral compass being so askew.”
In addition to sucker-punching the victim, Baker also also fled authorities. Combined, the state generally suggests between three and 14 months in prison. Baker, on the other hand, recieved a sentence of three to six years behind bars.
The case could not have been more cut and dry- the entire thing was caught on a security camera at the West Chester 7-Eleven where it took place.
When the disabled man drove up to the convenience store, Chester -who seemingly had nothing to do but hang out outside a 7-Eleven with his friends at 2:30 AM- noticed the man exiting his car and began mocking him as he entered the store. When the victim left the store, Baker struck him before fleeing on foot.
Impacted against his vehicle, the disabled man was stunned as he stared at blood dripping onto his hands.
You wonder what would make an individual treat somebody like that,” West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn“ said in a statement.
When police put out warrants for his arrest, he hid in a hotel room as a multi-state manhunt for his capture was underway. On June 5, US Marshals found him hiding in his hotel’s bathroom.
In his phone records, investigators found evidence of Baker’s searching for information concerning “how do cops ping a cellphone” and “how to change my personal name,” as well as Greyhound bus services and Amtrak train schedules to locations as far away as Mexico and Canada.
Baker’s fiancee -Denise Schmidt- was taken in on June 27 for assisting Baker in hiding from the law. In a case of the “apple not falling far from the tree,” Baker’s father was caught up in a massive drug bust the same day.
“So while his son was beating up a man with a disability, Barry Baker Sr. was selling us morphine,” Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. “It’s a heck of a family.”
According to The Washington Post, Hogan cited the intense manhunt, capture, trial and punishment should serve as a warning to all locals who wish to prey on defenseless people.
“Since that unprovoked attack, the defendant has been arrested for assault, had his parole revoked, went on the run, was captured, and now has been charged with flight. The defendant’s fiancee has been arrested for helping the defendant flee. The defendant’s father has been arrested for dealing drugs. This is how Chester County law enforcement deals with bullies who pick on disabled people.”
Baker claimed he was drunk and had mistaken the man for someone he had had an altercation with earlier, was a victim of a dysfunctional home and that the whole situation was blown “way out of proportion.”
Ultimately, Baker was sentenced by Mahon to terms of one to two years state prison. In addition, he sentenced Baker to another term of one to two years for violating his probation from a 2009 case of theft from a motor vehicle, ultimately tallying three to six years behind bars.
“I’ve been on the bench for 18 years, and I’ve never had someone misrepresent to me, and be caught doing it, as you,” Mahon told Baker. “You have extreme difficulty with the truth.”
He’s a coward. You shouldn’t have put that title in quotes.
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