New sentencing hearing in Baltimore County Circuit Court, same

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Sep 19, 2008 by Danny Jacobs

Three years ago, Lance S. Baker won the right to a new sentencing hearing. On Thursday, it finally happened -- and the sentence was even longer.

Baker, who was out on mandatory release by the time his post- conviction challenge was decided in 2005, was resentenced in Baltimore County Circuit Court to a 15-year term with another 15 years suspended for stealing cars from a dealer's lot in 1995. He will also face three years' probation after his release.

That's the same sentence he got overturned in 2005, minus the probationary period. With credit for time served, he's facing another three years of incarceration.

Baker, now 39, will serve that only after he finishes the last three years of an eight-year term for selling drugs and 18 months for violating probation in another, unrelated case.

"I have no doubt there will be some confusion by the Department of Corrections," Judge Mickey J. Norman said at the close of an unusual hearing that was puzzling at times even for the lawyers involved.

"It was quite difficult for me to figure out what the heck was going on," said Francis Pilarski, the assistant state's attorney, at the start of his argument.

Continuing act

Baker and his then-girlfriend stole four cars overnight in September 1995, according to court records and statements Thursday. Judge John F. Fader II found Baker guilty of two counts of theft in a non-jury trial in April 1996 and sentenced him to two consecutive 15-year jail terms.

Assistant Public Defender Jerri Peyton-Braden argued then, and again on Thursday, that Baker stole the cars in a "single, continuing act" and therefore could only be convicted on one theft count under the single larceny doctrine.

"The time lapse was only sufficient to hide the stolen items," she said.

In May 2000, a three-judge panel reviewed the sentence and suspended the second term. Baker was granted mandatory release with parole in 2002, Peyton-Braden said.

In 2003, Baker was convicted of distributing a controlled, dangerous substance and sentenced to eight years in jail, Peyton- Braden said. He was granted a mandatory release on that charge in 2005, she said.

While Baker was in jail on the distribution charges, he was granted a post-conviction hearing for the car thefts.

In July 2005, Judge Robert N. Dugan granted Baker a new sentencing hearing after finding Peyton-Braden did not provide all necessary documents to Fader during sentencing. Since Baker was out of jail at that point, however, a new hearing was unnecessary.

Last year, though, Baker was convicted of driving while intoxicated, leading to a one-year suspended sentence. A few months later, he was given probation before judgment on second-degree assault charges.

Those crimes violated the conditions of Baker's release. A re- take warrant was issued in July 2007, and he has been in jail since.

Norman handled the resentencing hearing because he took Fader's seat on the bench.

Older, wiser

Pilarski, noting Baker had gotten in trouble with the law after being released in 2002, asked Norman to reimpose the original 30- year sentence.

"I do feel it was appropriate when Judge Fader ordered it," he said.

Peyton-Braden, who supplied the missing documents to Norman at the start of the hearing, said Baker battled addiction to painkillers and alcohol and has changed for the better.

"We've both gotten older," she said. "I believe Mr. Baker has gotten wiser."

Baker himself added he has survived a bout with colon cancer and gained perspective as he aged.

"Yeah, I'm a convict, but I've matured a lot," he said. "I'm not a snot-nosed kid any more."

Ultimately, Norman reinstated the sentence imposed by the three- judge review panel and added a three-year probation period once Baker leaves jail in 2016.