BEAVER, Pa.,None — Beaver County man who shot his estranged wife and killed her friend was sentenced on Friday.
The jury found Gregory Baker, 56, guilty of third-degree murder earlier this year in the December 2009 shooting that killed Thomas Dougherty and wounded Linda Baker. Linda Baker had filed for divorce in the days before the shooting, police said.
Baker was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
Authorities said Gregory Baker shot the pair as they left a restaurant in the East Rochester Township Plaza along Route 65. Dougherty, 54, was struck four times in the chest.
The conviction on a lesser charge means Baker avoids the death penalty.
Jurors reached the verdict on their second day of deliberations.
"Yeah, I know it was premeditated, but I can't speak for other people. They seen it differently," said Linda Baker.
Gregory Baker doesn't deny that he did it, but told police he doesn't remember pulling the trigger.
"Murder 3 is a middle ground. I don't know that that was a compromise, but the verdict suggests to me that it was a middle ground in the course of everything the jury had to deal with, all the facts and circumstances they had in hand," said Baker's attorney, Steve Colafella.
Dougherty's family talked with WPXI after the verdict was read.
"We were devastated, disappointed in the verdict. The district attorney and his team did a wonderful job of proving without a doubt that this man committed premeditated murder, and we just can't understand why a jury can't see that," said Dougherty's sister, Cindy Burger.
In court, when asked if she remembered the day of the killings, Linda Baker said, "Yes, never forget it. You have to remember, we are here for Tom. I was just having coffee with him, and now he's dead."
"I didn't know who I was or what I was doing," Gregory Baker said. "I didn't know who she was with. I just know she was hugging and kissing some guy."
He told the court he also doesn't remember having a gun and has little memory of it all, saying he'll always love his wife.
"Is that how you show love?" Linda Baker said. "I loved him and didn't shoot him. He loves me and tries to kill me. That's not love."
"If he ever gets out, I believe he will (kill me)," Linda Baker said.
During court, statements that were recorded hours after the shootings were played. Baker told police he didn't remember shooting anyone and didn't know who the man was, saying, "I didn't know if he was Jesus Christ or God himself. I wasn't thinking. I just snapped."
"This isn't a homicide of who did it, where it happened or how it happened," said Colafella. "We conceded those issues. It's really a case of state of mind."
When police told Baker that he killed a man and injured his wife, Baker told officers, "Do what you got to do, buddy. I should have just shot myself. I'm not a real bad person."
"His lack of recollection is real and can be explained through expert testimony," said Colafella. "It's up to the jury to decide whether he was being genuine or not."
During a hearing last year, Linda Baker testified she played dead so her husband wouldn't shoot her again.
Linda Baker told the court that she watched as her husband got out of the car with a gun. She said she told him that Dougherty was only a friend.
She also testified that Gregory Baker got on the phone to call their daughter to tell her he had just killed her mom.
Police said Gregory Baker confessed to the shooting, which witness Tony Prest said looked like an "assassination."
"Just like an assassination," said Prest. "The (male victim) was laying on the ground. He just put one in him."
Previous Stories: February 23, 2010: Officer In Court, Accused Of Giving Accused Killer Information February 1, 2010: Woman Shot In Rochester Plaza Testifies
Previous Stories: February 23, 2010: Officer In Court, Accused Of Giving Accused Killer Information February 1, 2010: Woman Shot In Rochester Plaza Testifies
• E-Mail Newsletter: Get The Latest News Sent To Your E-Mail! • Mobile: Get WPXI Headlines On Your Phone, iPhone, More • RSS: Add Us To Your Page!