Victim of 'justice,' Sandusky County style

FREMONT — Patrick Baker Sr. claims former Sandusky County sheriff's Detective Sean O'Connell and former county Prosecutor Tom Stierwalt railroaded him into a prison cell, and his life's never been the same since. It's been a nightmare for his family, too, for more than three years, said Baker, 43, who was never convicted of any crime prior to his indictment in 2014 on burglary charges."I am not at all the same person. When you get incarcerated you change, everyone has told me I have changed. I am distant. I can not be in a restaurant or store because it is too many people," Baker saidPatrick Baker's hands rest on the dining room table at his home in Clyde on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. After being convicted of a crime in Sandusky County, Baker spent 16 months in prison before an appeals court threw out the five year sentence. O'Connell came after him because he held a grudge stemming from a traffic accident, in which O'Connell was at fault, Baker said. The former detective coached a witness, a man with a long-term drug problem and mental health issues, to finger Baker as a co-conspirator in the burglary, according to Baker.That witness, Shane Heberling, and another man both admitted to burglarizing a home in September 2013 in the 200 block of Granville Blvd. in Fremont, and stealing $13,000 in cash and a class ring from a lockbox hidden under a bed.But Baker has always insisted he had nothing to do with the crime and knew nothing about it until O'Connell accused him. O'Connell manufactured testimony, Baker said, convincing Herberling to testify against him by suggesting to Heberling he would get a lighter prison sentence if he did.The two co-conspirators both accepted plea deals. Heberling was sentenced to four years in prison. The second man, Joshua Shanahan, 22, received a two-year sentence.Baker was convicted at trial on April 10, 2015, in Sandusky County Common Pleas Judge John Dewey's courtroom. The trial lasted less than an hour, and Dewey immediately sentenced him to five years in prison. Baker was shipped off to the Grafton Correctional Facility in Grafton, Ohio, before being assigned to the Richland Correctional Institute and then to Mansfield.He spent about 16 months there before an appeals court threw out his conviction, citing 41 trial procedural errors committed by Stierwalt, Judge Dewey and Baker's own defense attorney, who provided an inadequate defense counsel, according to the appeals court."They incarcerated me and then said you are out. I was not ready. I stayed in my room for two months," Baker said.Patrick Baker Sr. looks out the door of his home in Clyde on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Baker says he is not the same person after spending 16 months in jail from a conviction that was later thrown out by an appellate court. Baker suffered serious injuries to his leg when he was attacked by other inmates in prison before his conviction was reversed in May 2016. But he thought his luck was changing when he won the appeal and was released from prison.Stierwalt, however, wasn't done with him.The prosecutor ordered Baker to wear an ankle monitor and remain under the control of the state until he decided whether to re-try him, or drop the charges. Weeks went by with no decision from Stierwalt, and Baker has been forced to pay $208 per month for the ankle monitor — month after month — ever since. That cost is bankrupting him, Baker said."My life is on hold. I can't get a job... They know I did not do this," Baker said.There were plenty of reasons why Stierwalt might have stalled. He was campaigning for re-election and the misconduct during the trial that resulted in the conviction being overturned had the potential to hurt his chances at winning a fourth term if he ordered a new trial before the election.And Stierwalt's lead investigator in the case, O'Connell, was having problems of his own. The former detective was accused of workplace misconduct in June, and an internal investigation determined he improperly leaked confidential information about the targets of drug investigations and the names of informants.O'Connell also improperly released confidential financial information, according to a report of the internal probe, which was sent — ironically — to Stierwalt to determine if the detective should be criminally charged. From left, former Detective Sean O'Connell and former Prosecutor Tom Stierwalt. But while Stierwalt appears to have ignored the criminal referral against O'Connell, who quit the sheriff's office in September rather than face potential termination or other punishment for his transgressions, he refused to drop the charges against Baker. Stierwalt appeared to be shopping for a special prosecutor to handle the O'Connell case, but ultimately he took no action on it. The three-term prosecutor lost his re-election bid on Nov. 8, so now both he and O'Connell are out. Stierwalt scheduled a criminal pre-trial for Baker late last year, however, knowing his successor would be left to clean up the mess. The new county prosecutor, Tim Braun, said on Tuesday he will likely ask the court to appoint a special prosecutor to review Baker's case, citing a conflict, because Baker's mother helped in his fall campaign. Sandusky County Prosecutor Tim Braun on Monday, Jan. 9, 2017.Braun also said he will likely ask the court to assign a special prosecutor to review the referral against O'Connell to determine whether he should face criminal charges for his transgressions. If that does happen, it's not clear whether complaints against O'Connell made by others will be included in that review. O'Connell has been a central figure in numerous botched homicide investigations, including the slaying of Heather Bogle in April 2015, the death of Craig Burdine at the county jail in 2007, and the killing of Lee Naus in 1999, among other controversial cases.Baker contends the state has no evidence against him other than Heberling's tainted testimony, and O'Connell's narrative, which he says should be discredited because it's not true.He said he hopes the detective's current situation awaiting a decision himself whether he'll face criminal charges also forces the state to drop the charges.And Judge Dewey, he wasn't fair the first time around, according to Baker, and there's just no way he'll do the right thing if a second trial goes forward."I am not going to get a fair deal," Baker said.The lessons he says he learned at every turn of the system: "You are guilty until proven innocent."Clyde resident Patrick Baker sits in his dining room on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. After spending 16 months out of a five year sentence in prison for a conviction an appellate court later threw out, Baker was put in legal limbo by former Sandusky County prosecutor, Tom Stierwalt. Patrick Baker Sr. looks out the door of his home in Clyde on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Baker says he is not the same person after spending 16 months in jail from a conviction that was later thrown out by an appellate court. Patrick Baker Sr. looks out the door of his home in Clyde on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Baker says he is not the same person after spending 16 months in jail from a conviction that was later thrown out by an appellate court.