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Jurors have questions in Baker trial, deliberations continue today

LISBON — Jurors in the Mitchell Allen Baker trial indicated in a question to the judge that they agree on two of the three charges, but wanted to know what happens if they can’t come to a unanimous decision on the remaining charge.

That’s when Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton opted to send them home at 4 p.m. instead of answering their question, to start fresh with their continued deliberations this morning.

The query was their second after two hours of discussing the case amongst themselves in the jury room behind closed doors. The case was handed to them at 2 p.m., following a morning of testimony from Alexis Hart, a registered nurse at Aultman Hospital in Canton, the state resting its case, then the defendant taking the stand to present his side of the story and the defense resting, followed by closing arguments after a lunch break.

Baker, 27, formerly of Haiti Road, Salineville, whose address was listed as Wells Hollow Road, Wellsville, was accused of beating his girlfriend, choking her twice into unconsciousness and forcing her to perform a sex act on him before she fled. The incident started Oct. 15, 2021 and continued early into Oct. 16, 2021 at their Haiti Road trailer.

The charges against him include a first-degree felony count of rape, a second-degree felony count of felonious assault and a misdemeanor of domestic violence. Baker was represented by defense attorney Joe King, with county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone handling the case for the state.

The female victim in the case testified Tuesday on the trial’s first day, along with Sgt. Brandon Hoppel of the county Sheriff’s Office. She described how she and Baker became acquainted, how their relationship became more serious and they moved in together in September 2021. She had been seeing Gale Hilditch before that and they broke up in July 2021, but she had still been staying at his Carroll County residence.

She testified that on her birthday, Oct. 11, 2021, Baker dragged her by her arm and pushed her off the porch, a moment she said was the first time he became violent with her. Then she described the events of Oct. 15 and 16, events that Baker described a little differently, saying in his testimony that the sex act never happened, but he admitted he stopped the car while they were on their way to Gale’s on Oct. 15 and “opened up the door and pushed her out,” adding she fell out. Both said he came home from work, they had dinner and then went to Dollar General in Salineville to get some movies. She said he had a tall boy beer after work, he said he didn’t drink anything then, but had a Mike’s Hard Lemonade after coming home from the store.

While inside the store, he claimed she struck her 7-year-old son and that didn’t sit well with him. He said he told her he was going to call child protective services on her and she got mad and he was taking her to Gale’s house. When asked by King if they ever made it to Gale’s house, he said no and when asked why not, he said “she started hitting me in the arm in the car.”

He stopped the car and told her she could walk to Gale’s or they could go home, it was her choice. After they arrived home, she put her son to bed. He said she started saying stuff about Gale and he told her if she wanted to live there, there’s the door.

“I grabbed her by the arm and showed her the door,” he said.

He also said he slapped her on the side of the head and then he claimed she went to the ground in a fetal position and grabbed him by his private parts.

He said there was no more fighting after that, he went to bed, she wanted to talk and he told her either stay or leave. He said he didn’t hear her leave and in the morning woke up to three sheriffs waking him up and arresting him.

During cross examination by Yacovone, he claimed the incident on her birthday didn’t happen, that he hadn’t met Gale until she moved out, then said they may have met one other time and that the sex act never happened. He said he opened the car door before pushing her out, then got out of the car and went to the other side. During testimony, the victim said he had taken her phone. He said he didn’t.

Yacovone recounted the photos of her injuries that were shown to the jury, the bruising, the signs of strangulation, the bloody ears, the evidence of hair pulling, which Baker said he didn’t do. When Yacovone asked if he was saying that the victim was the one lying, he replied “I honestly think she just wanted my stuff.”

Yacovone recounted how she left, went to East Liverpool City Hospital, spoke to a sheriff’s deputy, dropped off a written statement at the sheriff’s office, then traveled to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office about the incident in the field and to Canton Aultman Hospital for a rape kit.

“Your testimony is that she did all this to just get your stuff?” Yacovone asked. He pointed out the testimony of Hoppel and Alexis Hart, of the photos, and questioned whether he thought they were lying too and that his part was the truth.

“To me it is,” Baker replied.

During closing arguments, King noted the DNA testing didn’t show anything and he didn’t understand the excuses given by the state for why, which was because the victim drank and ate before the test. He said his client admitted to assault but not to the level of felonious assault and asked jurors to use their common sense in deciding the case.

Yacovone said King was using questions about DNA and whether she ate or drank as distractions to what happened. None of that changes what the evidence supports, that the state met all the elements of all three charges. He said the victim had no reason to come into the courtroom and lie, to put herself through the emotional testimony or the rape kit or anything else she did. She did what a victim is supposed to do.

“No evidence presented corroborates this defendant’s ridiculous account,” Yacovone said.

Once the jury got the case, the first question asked was whether the jury could see a transcript of the victim’s testimony, which the judge said they could not.

mgreier@mojonews.com

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