Baker explains 2010 murder in grammatically flawed, rambling letter
The motion convicted murderer Daniel Baker filed in court this week was a grammatically flawed and rambling letter in which he said victim Marina Aksman asked him to come to her Vernon Hills home to “have sex/talk.”
In the letter obtained by the Daily Herald Thursday, Baker said he found Aksman murdered by her daughter, Kristina, and that he took the blame because he “felt bad” for the mentally disabled woman.
The 24-year-old Deerfield man penned the letter, entitled “Not Guilty; Motion for Judgement of Acquittal”, in November while incarcerated after being found guilty but mentally ill of murdering the 50-year-old Aksman.
He created an 8-page handwritten letter, but then typed it into a 6-page document. He filed both on his own in court Tuesday.
Baker was due to be sentenced Wednesday, but Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes postponed the decision until Feb. 5 while he reviews the document and determines whether Baker is mentally fit to understand his own sentencing hearing.
During his trial, experts testified Baker suffers from multiple mental disorders. Shanes rejected defense petitions that Baker was unfit to stand trial.
Police said Baker murdered Marina Aksman after he became enraged when she tried to end his relationship with Kristina. On April, 1, 2010, Baker drove to the Aksman home, slammed his car into the house, broke the rear glass door with a baseball bat, then bludgeoned Marina Aksman to death, police said.
Baker fled with Kristina in Marina Aksman's car, until they were taken into custody in Montana days later. Kristina Aksman was never charged in the case.
In a section of his letter entitled “What happened?”, Baker said he received a phone call from Marina Aksman, who asked him to come to her home to “have sex/talk.”
Baker wrote that he parked his car and walked into the house through the garage door. Not finding anyone in the master bedroom, he went downstairs to a more secluded bedroom.
“That evening she was dead on the bed then out of no where I felt a person behind me ...” the letter states. “I quickly picked up the bloody bat startled I almost hit (that) person until I realized it was the daughter ...”
He continued, “I screamed at the daughter what happened ... she said she did it I felt bad for her she killed her own mother ...”
Baker wrote that he went to his car and cried, before he crashed the car into the house and used the bat to break the glass door to cover up Kristina's involvement.
On the rest of the pages, Baker said he will file for Israeli citizenship, would work for the nonactive military program in the Israeli government, and eventually become a snowboard instructor at a resort on Mount Hermon.
He also plans to open a surf shop in Haifa and Chicago, before opening a fast-food business named the “Falafel Well”.
He also said “I do not like violence,” and he likes to make money “the honest way,” with “no lawsuits.”
He claims to be a “bisexual swinger,” and will get a “Doctorates” degree in “musicology.”