Baker’s Lawyers Seek Second Competency Hearing in Murder Trial

A Deerfield man accused of beating his girlfriend’s mother to death with a baseball bat will undergo another evaluation to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial for murder Oct. 9, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.

Ed Genson, the attorney for Daniel Baker, 24, of Deerfield reportedly told his lawyer he expects to go home the day after the trial, according to the Tribune article.  "The problem is with his cooperation with me," Genson said in the Tribune story. "He'd like a bench trial. We have a problem with him understanding why they (the prosecution) have to put their case on first."

According to a Patch article a year ago, Baker was found competent to stand trial. At that time Baker’s attorneys explained he understood the charges against him even though they planned to prove at trial he did not know the difference between right and wrong.

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