Arthur Paul Baird Jr.

 

I found this case interesting because it appears that while by a legal standard Arthur Paul Baird Jr. did not qualify as “insane” it seemed to be understood that he actually may have been. The idea, or the “rule” of someone being “insane” to meet a legal definition has been up for debate for a very long time. The long and short of things is that if someone seemingly knows their actions are wrong, then they are not insane. To prove “temporarily insane” is even harder to prove because actions both before and after are considered and looked at. While I will agree that claiming insanity can be as common as appealing a case based on ineffective counsel and often is nothing more than a tactic used to lessen culpability, that is not always the case. Many believe that these rules should be changed but little has really been done about it.

Arthur Paul Baird Jr. lived in Darlington Indiana with his wife Nadine. Even though I have lived in Indiana all of my life I had never heard of Darlington and had to determine just where this was located. Most things will say that it is located about twenty miles south of Lafayette which places it about the middle of the state and just a bit northeast of Indianapolis. In 1985 the Arthur and Nadine, who was between six and seven months pregnant, lived in a trailer on some forty acres belonging to Arthur and his parents. Arthur's parents, Arthur Sr. and Kathryn lived in a farmhouse on the land and Arthur's grandmother, Kathryn's mother, lived in another trailer on the property. The couple apparently had been attempting to buy another area of land that consisted of over 200 acres.

September 6, 1985 was a Friday and like nearly every Friday Arthur Jr. and Nadine had planned to go to nearby Crawfordsville to shop and then visit her parents. It was said that Nadine was ready but Arthur Jr. was not and so she decided to lay down on the bed and rest before they left. For reasons unknown sometime after this Arthur Jr. proceeded to strangled Nadine to death while she lay in bed. Throughout the evening Nadine's parents called a few times and Arthur Jr. told them that she was sick and they had decided not to come so she could rest. Apparently her parents wanted to come visit and check on her but he insisted she was fine and just laying down. They called again later to check and he simply told them she was still sleeping but things were fine. In reality it was said that Arthur Jr. spent the next several hours he watched television and would go and lay with Nadine's body.

The following morning around seven Arthur Jr. went to his parents' home. He fed their chickens and went inside where his mother gave him a haircut. His father, Arthur Sr. went outside while his mother went to finish somethings at the sink. Arthur Jr. grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth with his hand and grabbed a nearby butcher knife. He proceeded to stab his mother several times in the abdomen and throat. As she fell to the floor Arthur Sr. was headed back inside. Arthur Jr. met him at the door and stabbed his father, just as he had his mother, several times in the abdomen and throat.

After killing his parents he went back to his trailer and started loading his mothers car with his belongings. Some time between eight and nine that morning Nadine's mother called again to check on her and Arthur Jr. told her that Nadine was still in bed but they had plans to meet with someone about the land they were trying to buy and that they would visit at their home after. A little while later her mother called again and Arthur Jr. told the same story saying that Nadine was getting up about that time and they would see them soon. It was said that Arthur Jr. loaded his mothers car so much that “the rear end nearly hit the ground” and around eleven that morning he left the area. He drove a few hours south to Huntingburg Indiana where he was arrested the following afternoon.

I never found anything that stated who found the victims or when but I suspect with all of the calls from Nadine's parents calling over the past several hours and expressing concern that it is likely they either discovered the scene or had sent someone else who found the victims.

Arthur Jr. went on trial in February of 1987 and by all accounts the insanity defense was argued. I do not have specifics about any sort of diagnosis' or instances other than to say that at some point it was said that Arthur Jr. has stated that “evil forces took over his body and killed his family” and that while he knew the murders were taking place, he was helpless in stopping them. Now, I am sure that this statement alone is not something that the courts, or even later, the Governor of Indiana took as solid proof of anything but there seemingly was some sort of proof that Arthur Jr. suffered from some sort of “mental illness.”

At the end of his trial he was convicted on three counts of murder and one count of feticide for the death of his unborn child. The jury immediately moved on to the penalty phase. I found it interesting that I was able to find what information was used as mitigating factors and what was used as aggravating factors. Aggravating factors are basically the things that made the crime worse or behaviors or other criminal actions of the perpetrator throughout the course of their lives sometimes. In this case the only aggravating factor was the fact that it involved multiple murders, which qualifies one for the death penalty. Mitigating factors can be good or bad things. It can be things such as being molested as a child or having alcoholic parents, or the fact that they were seemingly a good person who did not have a criminal past. Mitigating factors can explain why a person may have committed the crime or show that the crime was completely out of character. In this case one of the mitigating factors stated “extreme mental and emotional disturbance.” Again, I found nothing specific but this indicates that the courts accepted this as being true. Other mitigating factors in this case pointed out that Arthur had no criminal history, was active in his church, had been honorably discharged from the military and someone that others believed, at least before the crime, had a good “character.”

After deliberating to give their recommendation as to his sentence, the jury returned. Most importantly, they recommended that he receive the death penalty for the two murders of his parents. On March 13, 1987 the judge accepted that recommendation and sentenced Arthur to death, twice. He also gave him a sixty years sentence in the death of Nadine and an additional eight years for the death of their child.

As is common in these cases, years and years of appeals followed. Each one would be denied and the sentence of the court would be upheld. As each filing would be denied his execution date would get closer and closer. Many death row inmates will ask the Governor for clemency to have their execution stopped. This is often considered to be a “last ditch effort” because it rarely ends with a good decision for the defendant. But, “rarely” does not mean “never” and in this case it worked in Arthur Jr.'s favor.

On August 29, 2005, the day before Arthur's scheduled execution Governor Mitch Daniels granted his clemency and his sentence was commuted to life without parole. Since these actions are so rare I am unsure if it is common practice to release the paperwork to the public that explains how a decision was made but in this case that is exactly what was done.

Governor Daniels stated that he came to this decision based on the “unique circumstances” of this case and “all the facts, not one single element.” He stated in the clemency that the “courts recognized Mr. Baird as suffering from mental illness.” Again, as I have repeated often throughout this, I found no specifics, but that being said, while Daniels mention that he also mentions that was not his main reason for granting clemency. The long and short of this revolved around the fact that at the time of Arthur's trial the jury did not have the option of life without parole. It appears they were only given choices of life with parole or the death penalty. It was said at the time the family members did not want a death sentence imposed but hand seemed to be tied. It was mentioned that at some point the prosecutor had offered Arthur a deal in which he would be sentenced to life without parole and just before he was to sign and accept that plea he changed his mind. It was said that was “due to his delusional state.” But, since his trial the laws have changed and by 2005 the option of life without parole is now available. Daniels stated jury members were contacted and it appears all, or most, that were contacted stated if life without parole had been an option they would have recommended that as opposed to the death penalty.

I think Daniels had to be careful in making this choice. While it feels to me that deep down it was really about his mental illness issues he really needed to tiptoe around how and what he said. Opening the door based on his mental illness alone would have had every inmate behind bars running to him. I believe this is why in the beginning he had made the comment that it was a unique case and he considered all of the facts but in the end he specified that while Arthur's mental health was considered the core reason for the clemency was based on the fact that the life without parole option was not available to him at trial, but it was now.

This appears to be one of the rare cases in which no motive could be found. Every time I read something it would say that on September 6, 1985 Arthur Jr. strangled his wife “for no apparent reason.” There was nothing in his background that indicated he was capable of this and there was nothing after that indicated there were reasons for the murders.

I do want to point out one more thing that I found repeatedly that was actually a mistake. Almost everything I found stated that Arthur's parents, Arthur Sr. and Kathryn were sixty-eight and seventy-eight years old respectively, making Kathryn ten years older. I immediately found this to be a bit odd especially when I later found that Kathryn's mother was still alive and living in a trailer on the same farm as her daughter and grandson. I checked with the Findagrave.com website and I was correct in my thinking, the ages of Arthur Jr.'s parents were reversed, with Arthur Sr. being older. This was confirmed through pictures of their tombstones. Kathryn's mother died in 1989 after her grandson was convicted of murdering her daughter. Nadine's father died in 1998 and her mother died in 2002.