BAKER ON THE OUTSIDE
Giant CB free on bail, but not allowed in team meetings for now
A Florida judge granted Giants corner DeAndre Baker release from jail on $200,000 bail on Sunday morning but said Baker cannot leave the state at this time. Baker also has been told stay away from the Giants' virtual meetings for the time being and focus on his legal issues, according to a source familiar with the club's thinking.
Baker, 22, had spent the overnight at the Broward County main jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale after turning himself in on Saturday morning.
The Miramar police department publicly issued an arrest warrant for Baker on Thursday for four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm stemming from an alleged incident Wednesday night. Judge Michael Davis of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida granted Baker bail at $25,000 per count on all eight charges.
The judge granted Seattle Seahawks corner Quinton Dunbar release on $100,000 bail, on the same $25,000 per count amount, for the four charges Dunbar faces related to the same alleged incident. Dunbar, who turned himself in mid-Saturday afternoon, also cannot leave the state at this time.
The prosecutor said Dunbar's charges if convicted would be “punishable by life.”
Davis stipulated that his ruling does not mean the Florida State Attorney's office cannot file a motion to have Baker held and not released prior to his first trial date, anyway. But the Daily News has learned the state attorney's office does not intend to file such a motion.
The terms for Baker, 22, in his pretrial release include no access to firearms or weapons, and no contact with any of the alleged victims in the case. He must surrender his concealed weapon permit within 48 hours of his release. And he cannot leave the state “at this time.”
The judge said if it comes time that Baker must travel out of state for work purposes to New York or another state, he'll leave that up as modifiable by the division judge.
By granting Baker release on, the judge aligned with the recommendation of Baker's defense attorney, Bradford Cohen, and went against assistant state attorney Aaron Passy's request for a no bond hold on the first four charges of robbery with a firearm.
The affidavit says Baker was armed with a “semiautomatic firearm.” It also says one of Baker's accomplices was wearing a red mask and alleges, according to testimony from multiple witnesses, that "Baker directed the assailant in the red mask to shoot (an unnamed person), who was just walking into the party."
The alleged accomplice did not shoot.
Both Cohen and Dunbar's defense attorney, Michael Grieco, said they have affidavits with new and recanted testimony from the four alleged victims and the witness who originally testified.
Cohen said “we have more affidavits than we provided to the state” that he is withholding as part of “a little strategic defense issue in case this case goes forward.”
It remains to be seen how the new testimony will hold up, since the Miramar police have the testimonies of the four alleged victims and a witness recorded on audio.
"We have taped statements, sworn statements from each of the victims that were interviewed separately,” Tania Rues, public information officer of the Miramar P.D., told the Daily News on Friday. “The affidavit speaks for itself. If the victims have a different story to tell, they have not come to the Miramar police department and given any revised or different statements. If the victims have a different story to tell, they have not come to the police department to give it.”
Cohen, said Baker has "no criminal history" and it's "his first time in handcuffs." He also said detective Mark Moretti, who filed for the warrant for Baker's arrest, told Cohen he was in agreement to set a bond in this case.
Passy, the prosecutor, said the alleged incident appears to have occurred at a house party including 15-to-20 people. Grieco presented an affidavit signed by all four alleged victims saying an “altercation among several individuals” occurred “related to a dice gambling game.”
“Any robbery or assault with or without a firearm did not involve Mr. Dunbar. Dunbar didn't participate at all,” the affidavit reads.
There was no such testimony presented on Baker's behalf. Cohen also made no mention of the “video evidence” he claimed on Instagram to have in his possession.
Cohen's add-on to Grieco's affidavit that contained no mention of Baker was as follows:
“What I thought was most evident in that affidavit was whether or not a firearm was used. They don't even say ‘during the course of a robbery a firearm was used but Mr. Dunbar was not involved.' They don't even say that in this affidavit.”
Passy said the state of Florida still has been unable to identify the alleged accomplice in the red mask.
Cohen said he was presenting an affidavit of a witness who claims he/she told police at the scene that the incident had not occurred as others were saying. But the prosecutor responded that the witness who testified that night, Baker acquaintance Dominick Johnson, only had stipulated he “did not feel threatened by any of the armed assailants because they knew him.”
A second defense attorney speaking for Baker on Sunday, Patrick G. Patel of Jersey City, released the following apology statement on Baker's behalf:
“We sincerely thank all law enforcement for their diligent efforts to uncover the truth herein and sincerely apologize for the distractions that this event has caused to DeAndre's team, teammates and the NFL community during this difficult time in everyone's life!”