Sat, Nov 07 2009
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Published June 06, 2009 12:30 am - A plea-agreement will put two men who kidnapped and brutally beat a 58-year-old man in Ashtabula last March in prison for the next eight years. Uncle, nephew plead guilty Duo sentenced to eight years in beating, kidnapping case By SHELLEY TERRY and MARK TODD - Staff Writers Star Beacon JEFFERSON — A plea-agreement will put two men who kidnapped and brutally beat a 58-year-old man in Ashtabula last March in prison for the next eight years.
Harold E. Baker, 40, 433 W. Prospect Road, Ashtabula, and his nephew Bryan L. Baker, 23, 8417 Center Road, Austinburg Township, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree felony charges of attempted murder and kidnapping relating to a March 16 incident in Harold Baker’s apartment, court records show. A charge of aggravated robbery was dismissed as part of the stipulated plea. Moments after the men entered their guilty pleas, Ashtabula Common Pleas Court Judge Alfred Mackey sentenced them both to five years in prison on the attempted murder charge and three years on the kidnapping. The sentences will be served consecutively for a total of eight years behind bars. They will be eligible for release after five years, Mackey said. The sentences of the men could be lengthened because both were on probation for prior offenses. Bryan Baker was convicted of assault on a police officer, while Harold Baker is on probation for an offense in Lake County. Parole officials will examine the situation and make a recommendation, officials said. A jury trial on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery was scheduled to start Tuesday. The men faced a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail and a $60,000 fine if found guilty. The pair was charged with nearly beating Ashtabula resident Terry Foster Sr. to death during an apparent robbery attempt on March 16, police and court records show. Police arrested the Bakers after Chris Perry, Harold E. Baker’s neighbor, heard a loud banging noise at 12:45 a.m. March 16, coming from the apartment. He then heard a man cry out for help. Perry walked out into the foyer and peered into Baker’s kitchen window. He soon realized something was terribly wrong and called police. Police found Foster with his feet bound and his body severely beaten. They discovered the Bakers hiding in the bathroom and back bedroom, both covered in blood from beating Foster, according to police reports. Perry helped with first aid on Foster until ambulance and rescue crews arrived on the scene. Later, Perry realized he knew the victim but did not recognize him at the time because his face was so bloody and beaten, he said. “(Perry) is the hero in this case,” Margaret Draper, assistant county prosecutor, said prior to Friday’s hearing. The defendants have remained in jail on $150,000 cash or surety bonds, court records show. The men, shackled and wearing county jail uniforms, shed little light on the crime Friday when questioned by Mackey. A tearful Bryan Baker said he and his uncle had been drinking when they encountered Foster in an Ashtabula bar. At one point in the evening, Foster began calling Baker names, which he ignored. “I kept my cool,” he said. Foster gave the pair a ride to Harold Baker’s apartment, where Foster again resumed his insulting and taunting remarks, Bryan Baker said. 
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