Defense lawyers painted a picture of Daniel Baker Monday as a person who heard voices, has a variety of mental disorders and did not know what he was doing when he bludgeoned a Vernon Hills woman to death more than two years ago, according to an article in the Chicagoist.
Baker, of Deerfield, is in the second week of his trial for the murder of Marina Aksman of Vernon Hills in Lake County Court in Waukegan. Psychiatrist Alexander Obolsky was the first defense witness. He testified Baker has a pair of personality disorders and a cognitive disability that left him insane at the time of the attack, according to a report in the Chicago Sun Times.
“He has many strange and bizarre ideas having to do with voices and thoughts,” Obolsky said in the Chicagoist story. “He is a nerd on steroids.” He made it clear Baker was insane at the time of the attack.
Obolsky also told the court Baker believes people can inject their voices into his mind and he can predict the future, according to the Sun Times story. He also opined Baker became enraged at Aksman when she tried to end Baker’s relationship with her daughter, Kristina Aksman, because the relationship made him feel normal.
“She was his badge he was a normal individual,” Obolsky said in a Daily Herald story. The psychiatrist testified Baker was “painfully conscious” he was “bizarre and strange.” The relationship made him feel normal, according to Obolsky. The doctor called the fit of rage a dissociated act which passed after the slaying.
Baker’s mother, Diane Weber, also testified telling the court her son displayed unusual behavior at three months, according to the Daily Herald. He took a large number of psychotropic drugs from the time he was three until he stopped at 14 or 15, she said. “He said he didn’t need a telephone to talk to Kristina,” she said in the Daily Herald story.
