Kentucky man pardoned by Matt Bevin for 2014 homicide is back in jail, held for Feds
Federal authorities have jailed a Kentucky man who received one of former Gov. Matt Bevin’s controversial pardons in December 2019.
Patrick Brian Baker, 43, was convicted of reckless homicide in the death of Donald Mills during a Knox County home invasion in 2014. However, Baker maintained his innocence and blamed law enforcement for overlooking an alternative suspect in the case. In his pardon, Bevin described the evidence against Baker as “sketchy at best” even though an appeals court rejected Baker’s appeal with a judge noting the “evidence of Baker’s guilt was overwhelming.”
Baker had served two years of a 19-year sentence when Bevin set him free.
Baker’s brother and sister-in-law held a political fundraiser in 2018 that raised $21,500 for Bevin, according to the Kentucky Registry for Election Finance. The couple donated $4,000 to Bevin.
Baker, who now has a Frankfort address, was held in the Laurel County Detention Center on Monday as a federal prisoner, according to the jail’s website. Jail officials would not identify the criminal charge that Baker faced; they referred media calls to the U.S. Marshal’s office. But federal offices were closed Monday for Memorial Day.
Donald Mills’ sister on Monday said she’s been informed that Baker’s new arrest is related to her brother’s slaying.
“The ATF agent who contacted me stated that he’s been charged in federal” court in the “murder of my brother,” Melinda Mills told the Herald-Leader in a Facebook message.
According to the jail’s website, Baker was arrested Sunday and booked at 12:16 a.m. on Monday. No bond was initially allowed.
Baker’s pardon was one of the hundreds of pardons and commutations issued by Bevin in his final days in office, sometimes for people convicted of violent crimes, angering prosecutors, police and members of the public.
Jackie Steele, the commonwealth’s attorney for Laurel and Knox counties, said he could not comment Monday on whether Baker’s arrest is related to the original homicide case.
However, Steele said that state and federal authorities often have concurrent jurisdiction on crimes, meaning they could be prosecuted in either state or federal court.
The fact that Baker’s case was resolved in state court would not prevent federal authorities from pursuing a new charge against him, even one based on the original crime, if the alleged violation involved a federal law, Steele said.
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