Career criminal locked up | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Antonio Alonzo Baker, who won't be eligible for parole until he is at least 71, robbed a Glen Burnie drug store Aug. 30 and a Pasadena Hallmark store on Sept. 11 - just 13 months after he got out of prison more than a decade early on previous robbery convictions.

The sentences Baker received are among the harshest to be handed down in Anne Arundel County for robbery.

"I really messed up," Baker told the court Friday, blaming his addiction to marijuana and cocaine for his life of crime. He thought he had kicked his addiction last year at Second Genesis in Crownsville, but quickly fell back into his old ways after he got out in May 2007.

"They didn't fail. I failed," he said, asking for lenience and reiterating his continued desire to turn his life around.

Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Alexander, however, called Baker a "predator" who preys on women and the vulnerable. She noted how he repeatedly has been convicted of robbery, talked his way out of prison early and done it again.

"This is the eighth conviction for the defendant for robbery or armed robbery," she said, recalling how Baker was convicted in 1996 of robbing three north county businesses and mugging an elderly couple in the span of a couple months. "He is a danger to society."

Circuit Court Judge Pamela North agreed. She believed Baker sincerely wants to get off drugs, but doesn't believe he will.

"It's just too much of a risk," Judge North said. She sentenced Baker to 25 years without parole for the drug store robbery to be followed by another seven years for the Hallmark robbery.

Baker will return to court Tuesday on charges he violated his probation on the four 1996 cases. He faces an additional eight years in prison if convicted.

Assistant Public Defender William Cooke, Baker's attorney, and Ms. Alexander declined to comment until Tuesday.

Long sentence

To get the "enhanced sentence" of 25 years without parole, Ms. Alexander argued Baker was a career criminal with two prior convictions for crimes of violence. Specifically, she said he was convicted of armed robbery in 1990 and again in 1996.

Mr. Cooke contested the convictions, leading Ms. Alexander to call several witnesses to prove Baker was the same Baker who was convicted of the earlier armed robberies.

Ms. Alexander went so far as to call a county police fingerprint technician to the stand. In the courtroom, the technician took Baker's fingerprints and matched them to fingerprints left at the 1990 and 1996 crimes scenes.

"There is no question in my mind at all (Baker committed the other robberies)," Judge North said. She noted how the state went above and beyond the call of duty to prove Baker deserved 25 years in prison without parole.

Past lenience

The enhanced sentence means Baker can't get out earlier like he did last time.

Baker pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery and one count of robbery in 1996 as part of a plea agreement with the state. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to a regular 25-year prison sentence.

According to court records and prosecutors, in late 1995 and early 1996 Baker robbed a Glen Burnie movie theater, a Glen Burnie cleaners, a Glen Burnie dollar store and an elderly north county couple out for a walk.

After serving less than 11 years of that 25-year sentence, Baker talked his way into drug rehab. The State's Attorney's Office opposed the early release, but Assistant State's Attorney Frederick Paone did not make that clear when the request came to court.

"I don't know much about the case," he told the court according to a recording of the hearing. "I don't have a lot to say."

With no argument from the state, Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth committed Baker to the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and ordered him to complete an inpatient, residential drug rehabilitation program.

According to court and prison records, Baker was released from prison in July 2006 and admitted to Second Genesis in Crownsville. He spoke to a group of state judges in December about how well he was doing and successfully completed Second Genesis on May 26, 2007.

Baker returned to his old ways within two weeks of getting out of drug rehab. He tested positive for marijuana June 5, leading his probation agent to recommend his immediate arrest June 12. He was not picked up until Sept. 11, 2007 - after the two armed robberies in Glen Burnie and Pasadena.

A jury convicted Baker on May 16 of the Aug. 30 robbery of the Walgreens at 7935 Crain Highway in Glen Burnie.

He pleaded guilty July 24 to the Sept. 11 robbery of the Hallmark store at 4221 Mountain Road in Pasadena. Police found Baker hiding with the money in some brush near the store.

Promises

Mr. Cooke told the court his client is not a bad person. He noted how Baker is doing well in jail and participating in Bible study.

"There is some good. There is some decency in Mr. Baker," he said.

Judge North said she appreciated that and went so far as to say it might be Baker's "destiny" to mentor young drug addicts and criminals while in prison.

Baker is not willing to give up, though. He promised the court he would turn his life around.

"I don't plan to die in prison. I plan to get it right," he said. "Whether the world thinks so or not, I'm going to get it right."