In 2006 former pastor Matt Baker murdered his wife Kari in their Hewitt, McLennan County, Texas home and staged the scene to look like a suicide.
The responding police officers and emergency personnel followed standard protocol when they arrived at the Baker house which dictated that, in McLennan County, a justice of the peace conduct an “inquest into the death of a person who dies if the person commits suicide or the circumstances of the death indicate that the death may have been caused by suicide.” Texas Code of Crim. Pro. §49.04.
Texas law at that time stated that an “inquest meant an investigation into the cause and circumstances of the death…, and a determination, made with or without a formal court hearing, as to whether the death was caused by an unlawful act.” Texas Code of Crim. Pro §49.01. Moreover, a justice of the peace could conduct the “inquest…at any other place determined to be reasonable by the justice.”
In the Baker case, this meant that the presiding justice of the peace was able to investigate Kari Baker’s death and determine the cause via a late night phone call from the responding police officers without getting out of bed. Finally, a justice of the peace had the sole discretion of whether to order an autopsy. Texas Code of Crim. Pro §49.10.
An autopsy was later performed in the Baker case, but only after a formal inquest hearing was granted and after Kari had been interred. The results from the autopsy provided crucial evidence that helped prove that Kari had not committed suicide but had in fact been murdered by Matt Baker.
If a full or partial autopsy would have been a mandatory requirement for apparent suicides, like it is in other states such as Oklahoma or Georgia, crucial evidence against Mr. Baker would have been better preserved.
In the current legislative session Texas House Representative Charles "Doc" Anderson of McLennan County has introduced House Bill 3546, referred to as Kari's Law by its supporters, which would substantially change this very important area of Texas law such that autopsies become mandatory anytime a death is apparently caused by suicide.
With all of the other duties of a justice of the peace –performing marriages, issuing warrants, setting bail, conducting criminal and civil trials- it seems that determining death is one duty that should be void of discretion and ultimately up to a medical professional. Accordingly, this Bill and its author are worthy of support.
The responding police officers and emergency personnel followed standard protocol when they arrived at the Baker house which dictated that, in McLennan County, a justice of the peace conduct an “inquest into the death of a person who dies if the person commits suicide or the circumstances of the death indicate that the death may have been caused by suicide.” Texas Code of Crim. Pro. §49.04.
Texas law at that time stated that an “inquest meant an investigation into the cause and circumstances of the death…, and a determination, made with or without a formal court hearing, as to whether the death was caused by an unlawful act.” Texas Code of Crim. Pro §49.01. Moreover, a justice of the peace could conduct the “inquest…at any other place determined to be reasonable by the justice.”
In the Baker case, this meant that the presiding justice of the peace was able to investigate Kari Baker’s death and determine the cause via a late night phone call from the responding police officers without getting out of bed. Finally, a justice of the peace had the sole discretion of whether to order an autopsy. Texas Code of Crim. Pro §49.10.
An autopsy was later performed in the Baker case, but only after a formal inquest hearing was granted and after Kari had been interred. The results from the autopsy provided crucial evidence that helped prove that Kari had not committed suicide but had in fact been murdered by Matt Baker.
If a full or partial autopsy would have been a mandatory requirement for apparent suicides, like it is in other states such as Oklahoma or Georgia, crucial evidence against Mr. Baker would have been better preserved.
With all of the other duties of a justice of the peace –performing marriages, issuing warrants, setting bail, conducting criminal and civil trials- it seems that determining death is one duty that should be void of discretion and ultimately up to a medical professional. Accordingly, this Bill and its author are worthy of support.
