Kevin Baker

An alibi corroborated by his girlfriend

Baker testified he was with his girlfriend, Michelle Redden, at her mother's home in Roosevelt Manor until about 2 a.m., then at her apartment across town for the rest of the night. Redden had told police and Baker's own trial lawyer the same account before she died of cancer years before a court could hear her testimony.

He refused a plea deal rather than falsely implicate his co-defendant

Baker testified that prosecutors offered him a deal — plead guilty and testify against Washington in exchange for an eight-year sentence. He rejected it, saying he did not know anything about the shootings. He instead served roughly 25 years maintaining his innocence.

A 2008 polygraph examination supported his account

Vinson Montgomery, a polygraph examiner for the Public Defender's Office, testified he gave Baker a polygraph examination in 2008 and had a "high degree of confidence" Baker was telling the truth when he denied any knowledge of the crime.

Forensic reconstruction contradicted the eyewitness

In 2013, prosecutors turned over discovery that included a 911 call for the first time, later identified as co-defendant Sean Washington's voice. Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden and firearms expert Lucien Haag later testified that bullet trajectories and "bow effect" ricochet scoring on the recovered bullets showed victim Margaret Wilson was shot while lying on the ground — directly contradicting eyewitness Denise Rand's account that she saw the victims shot while standing and fleeing.

Statements undermining the eyewitness's credibility

Two acquaintances of Denise Rand, both since deceased, gave statements that shortly after the 1996 trial, Rand told them she had not actually been present at or witnessed the murders.

Alibi witness never called at trial

Baker's trial defense attorney, Frederick Gumminger, did not call Michelle Redden as an alibi witness, later testifying he doubted her "general demeanor" would read as truthful to a jury — despite recently discovered news footage that corroborated Redden's account of watching televised coverage of the murders with Baker.

Undocumented interrogation and photo identification

Police interrogated witnesses Denise Rand and Tyrone Moore separately after an informant's tip, and the photo display procedure that led to Rand naming Baker and Washington was never documented.

Sole eyewitness was impaired and inconsistent

The prosecution's own opening called it a "one-witness case." Denise Rand admitted she had smoked crack cocaine roughly two hours before the shooting and typically smoked every two to three hours. Her trial testimony repeatedly changed on cross-examination, including who she was with, where they were standing, and which defendant she said shot which victim — she needed her own prior police statement read back to her to attribute the shootings at all.

An unreliable polygraph used against a rival account

Rand's cousin, Tyrone Moore, initially told police he and Rand were blocks away when they heard the shots — an account matching other witnesses. An uncredentialed polygraph examiner then issued a report concluding Moore was lying, which was used to discount his contradicting account. Rand herself was never given a polygraph.