Baker bound for court in ‘sucker punch’ case

Barry Baker Jr. waives preliminary hearing

WEST CHESTER » Saying his client wants to put the matter that made his name synonymous with the bullying of people with disabilities to rest, the attorney for “sucker punch” suspect Barry Robert Baker Jr. on Tuesday waived a scheduled preliminary hearing on the criminal charges against him.

“He is looking forward to getting this over with and behind him as soon as possible,” said Thomas Purl, the Downingtown attorney who entered his appearance in the case just minutes before Baker appeared in front of Magisterial District Judge Mark Bruno of West Chester. “He wants his trial tomorrow.”

Baker, 29, formerly of East Fallowfield, was in the courtroom less than five minutes to agree to forego his preliminary hearing on charges that he punched a man with cerebral palsy outside a West Chester convenience store after mocking the way the man walked. The prosecution would have had to convince Bruno that a crime had been committed and that there was probable cause to believe Baker committed the offense, had he gone through with the hearing.

“You understand you are not pleading guilty today, just waiving your right to a preliminary hearing,” Bruno asked Baker, who was dressed in a white Tshirt and black sweat pants, his forearms heavily tattooed and his wrists in handcuffs. The next action would be his formal arraignment in Common Pleas Court, the judge told him.

“Any questions?” Bruno asked. “No,” Baker said softly.

He was returned to the Chester County Sheriff’s lockup in the county Justice Center before being taken back to Chester County Prison, where he is being held on $100,000 bail. Bruno told Purl and Baker that he could do nothing for their request to have a trial date set as early as possible, as that was beyond his authority as a magisterial district judge. A trial date will be set once the case has reached a Common Pleas judge’s docket. The average time

for a case to be resolved at that level is at least several months.

Purl is a former candidate for district attorney who said he had been contacted about representing Baker by the defendant’s father, Barry Baker Sr. He said he had represented the younger Baker in another criminal case that was dismissed some years ago, and knew the family from

his neighborhood. The senior Baker is himself now facing drug charges in the county’s “Operation Wildfire” raid on suspected heroin dealers.

Purl declined to discuss the specifics of the assault case with reporters outside Bruno’s court, and said that Baker was being held in a protective wing at the prison, where he had visited him three times in recent weeks. “He is doing well,” Purl said. “I believe they put him there because of the nature of the alleged offenses.”

Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Morgan, who is leading the prosecution of the case against Baker, declined comment after the brief proceeding. The alleged victim in the case — who has not been publicly identified — was not in the courtroom, although the arresting officer, Matthew Simcox, was present and prepared to testify against Baker in the case. He is charged with misdemeanor simple assault, and summary harassment and disorderly conduct.

Purl is the third attorney

to represent Baker in the weeks since he allegedly threw the sucker punch at the victim in mid-May. Attorney Frances Miller of West Chester had represented him initially until Baker failed to turn himself in on two court-issued arrest warrants filed after the assault charges were announced. Sarah Black, an assistant public defender, represented him at a bail hearing after his arrest in June.

There was initially some confusion about who would be Baker’s attorney

in the proceeding before Bruno on Tuesday because Purl had not entered his appearance and was not present when the court opened. Assistant Public Defender Sameer Barkawi was about to step in on Baker’s behalf, but Purl appeared and apologized for the mix-up. “It was just a communication issue,” Purl told Bruno.

The case has been the center of some media attention since it was announced and a video showing the assault was released to the public by law enforcement authorities.

The video shows a 22-year-old man entering and leaving a convenience store in West Chester in the early morning hours of May 10 when Baker, standing outside the store, without warning punched him in the face. The man was stunned but not seriously injured, and Baker walked from the scene only to be taken into custody by police a short time later.

But while Baker’s actions amounted to little more than second-degree misdemeanor charges and two summary offenses, the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault and the reaction to it turned the matter into the focus of scorn across the country and propelled Baker into a “most wanted” fugitive who now faces even greater criminal liability.

The man who Baker punched — an incident that was captured on the store’s video surveillance camera — has cerebral palsy, according to authorities. Baker was seen mocking the way the man walked into and out of the store before throwing the punch. West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn, after watching the video, labelled Baker’s actions, “appalling.”

“You wonder what would make an individual treat somebody like that,” he said at the time.

Baker was charged with assault a short while after the incident, and was scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing in late May. But when the release of the video showing what happened went viral on the internet, Baker opted to abscond. Two warrants were issued for his arrest — on probation violation and delinquent child support charges — and he spent two weeks running from law enforcement’s effort to track him down, in what District Attorney Tom Hogan, who initially publicized the sucker punch incident, called “a relentless manhunt.”

Baker, who lived in Georgetown, Delaware at the time of his arrest, was eventually captured at a Uwchlan hotel in June. Because investigators were able to develop evidence that Baker had actively sought to avoid turning himself in on the two court warrants that were issued in the wake of the media blitzkrieg, he was charged with flight to avoid apprehension. He faces an Aug. 29 hearing in Uwchlan District Court on those charges.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

Barry Baker Jr.