That didn't happen the last time Antonio Alonzo Baker was sent to prison for 25 years. The Pasadena native managed to talk his way into a drug treatment program after serving less than 11 years on armed robbery charges.
And at the time, the State's Attorney's Office didn't offer much resistance to his request for early release, despite multiple previous convictions for armed robberies.
Now Baker seems to have given prosecutors the chance to put him away for long time.
Baker was convicted in May of robbing a Glen Burnie drug store Aug. 30 - just five months after he got out of the court-ordered drug rehab and 13 months after he got out of prison more than a decade early. He also faces charges for the robbery of a Pasadena Hallmark store on Sept. 11. That trial is scheduled to start Thursday.
"He has obviously shown that his drug addiction guides a life of crime," said Kristin Fleckenstein, a spokesman for the State's Attorney Office, explaining why Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Alexander will seek the enhanced penalty Aug. 1 when Baker is sentenced.
"He is dangerous," Mrs. Fleckenstein said.
Her office, however, didn't have such harsh words for Baker two years ago when the cocaine addict asked Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth to release him from prison early and send him to rehab.
"I don't know much about the case," Assistant State's Attorney Frederick Paone said at the hearing with Judge Silkworth. "I don't have a lot to say."
With no argument from the state,
Judge Silkworth committed Baker to the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and ordered him to complete an inpatient, residential drug rehabilitation program.
State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee yesterday lamented Mr. Paone's comments, which were contained in a recording obtained by <i>The Capital.</i>
"It's unfortunate he said that," Mr. Weathersbee said, stressing his office usually opposes reductions in prison sentences. "I plan to discuss it with him."
Mrs. Fleckenstein stressed the office opposed Baker's release both verbally and in writing up until his release.
Mr. Paone, a city alderman who partially retired from the office last year after a heart attack, said yesterday he does not remember the case.
"It probably seemed to me at the time he was going to get it (drug rehab) anyway," Mr. Paone said.
He offered no excuse or apology for his comments, saying he did the best he could.
Past crimes
Baker spent most of the past two decades in and out of prison.
Prosecutors noted 12 prior convictions in 1996, when Baker pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery and one count of robbery as part of a plea agreement with the state. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to a 25-year prison sentence - even though state sentencing guidelines recommended he serve 53 to 90 years behind bars.
According to court records, Baker robbed a Glen Burnie movie theater July 20, 1995, a Glen Burnie cleaners July 29, 1995, and a Glen Burnie dollar store Aug. 6, 1995.
"I believe he represents a severe danger to society at this point in time," Circuit Court Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. said before handing down the 25-year sentence in 1996.
Drugs and fighting
Over the next 10 years, Baker blamed drugs for leading him to a life of crime.
"Outside of (my drug addiction), I don't think I would have a criminal history," he told Judge Silkworth in 2006, echoing similar comments he made over the years in dozens of letters to the court asking for lenience. "I've never had drug treatment before."
According to a June 16, 2000 report drafted by prison officials, Baker, who grew up in Pasadena, was born in 1961 to Jean Baker and Sherman Watts. However, Mr. Watts was married to Ms. Baker's oldest sister and did not acknowledge the boy.
Baker told prison officials his youth was marked by drugs and fighting. He was expelled from Chesapeake High School in the 10th grade for fighting and was discharged from the Army in 1979 for fighting with his drill sergeant.
Baker said he started drinking beer and smoking marijuana when he was 13.
Upon his discharge from the Army, he started free-basing cocaine - developing a pricey addiction during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the report said.
At the request of Baker's attorney, Judge Silkworth ordered prison officials to evaluate Baker's drug addiction in May 2006. Assistant State's Attorney Warren Davis did not oppose the prison conducting the evaluation and Mr. Paone did not take a stance on the final report, which recommended rehab.
According to court and prison records, Baker was released from prison in July 2006 and admitted to Second Genesis in Crownsville. He successfully completed that program May 26, 2007.
Old ways
Baker didn't stay clean long. He tested positive for marijuana June 5, leading his probation agent to recommend his immediate arrest June 12.
"Mr. Baker was provided a tremendous opportunity to be released from a (25) year sentence to obtain substance abuse treatment and gain the tools to live life clean, sober and successful as a productive member of society. He was enrolled in residential treatment longer than the 210-day period and within one week of completion he smoked marijuana," wrote Elizabeth Nevill in a report contained in one of his court files.
Baker was not picked up until Sept. 11, 2007 - after the two armed robberies in Glen Burnie and Pasadena.
According to charging documents, Baker walked into the Walgreens at 7935 Crain Highway in Glen Burnie about 4:30 a.m. Aug. 30 and picked up several items around the store. He then went to the counter with about $395 worth of merchandise, reached into his waistband to imply he was carrying a gun, and threatened to kill the clerk if she didn't let him steal the stuff.
A jury convicted Baker May 16 of that robbery.
Baker also is charged with robbing the Hallmark store at 4221 Mountain Road in Pasadena. According to charging documents, he walked into the store about 10:30 a.m. Sept. 11 and ordered a clerk to open the cash register. With one hand in his pocket, he indicated he had a gun and threatened to shoot her if she didn't hand over the money.
That's the case that goes to trial this week.
Assistant Public Defender William Cooke, Baker's attorney, declined to comment about the case.
Punishment vs. rehab
Mr. Weathersbee said he supports drug rehabilitation for criminals in prison, but he argued county judges are too quick to order that treatment.
"We have a trial and they are sentenced. Then we do it again and we then do it again," he said, arguing judges are too willing to reconsider a sentence. He said it seems the cases never end.
"We are actually sentencing a person again and again and again," he said.
Judge Silkworth declined to comment about Baker specifically because his cases are still ongoing. In general terms, he spoke up for court-ordered drug rehabilitation and the shortened prison sentences that can go along with it.
"Sentencing is about punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation," he said. "You need all three."
Judge Silkworth said court-ordered drug rehabilitation can help break the cycle and prevent some convicts from breaking the law again. He argued it is necessary to try that in light of recent crowding in area jails .
That said, Judge Silkworth admitted a judge can offer no guarantee that court-ordered rehab will get a defendant off the streets for good.
"You do the best you can," he said. "Hopefully we are right more often than we are not."
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Revolving Door - 2008-07-20 11:03:36
This story is not surprising at all. It's way past time that our courts start cracking down on these dirtbag career criminals and not coddling them as this is what seems to have happened in this (And many other) cases. Armed Robbery is a violent crime and these criminals need to get the maximum sentence not plea bargains to simple robbery with half sentences and early release for conning Social Workers in less than maximum security facilities.
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Paul F. - Shady Side, MD - Karma: Bad
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