Governor commutes death sentence of convicted murderer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels on Monday commuted the death sentence of Arthur Baird II, who was scheduled to be executed this week for killing his parents in 1985.\nThe order from Daniels changes Baird's sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole. Baird's lawyers have argued he was mentally ill, but the state Parole Board last week voted 3-1 to recommend that the execution be carried out as scheduled early Wednesday.\nDaniels' clemency ruling was released an hour after the Indiana Supreme Court set a Sept. 28 execution date for Alan Matheney, who was condemned for killing his ex-wife in Mishawaka during a brief furlough from prison in 1989.\nDaniels acknowledged claims that Baird was mentally ill, but he emphasized other circumstances in his clemency order. They included the fact that life without parole in murder cases was not an option at the time of Baird's sentencing. It became an option for jurors in 1993, and prosecutors could seek it on their own in 1994.\nAt least eight people under current death sentences in Indiana were sentenced before 1993.\nProsecutors offered Baird a plea agreement that included so many years in prison it effectively would have kept Baird behind bars for life. Daniels noted that Baird appeared ready to accept the agreement, but suddenly reversed course and, apparently because of his delusional state, rejected the deal.\n"All members of the jury whose views are known also indicated that, had life without parole been an alternative available to them, they would have imposed it instead of the death penalty," wrote Daniels, under whom four executions have been carried out since he took office in January.\nBaird, 59, of Darlington, Ind., was sentenced to death for killing his parents, Kathryn and Arthur Baird. He also was sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing his pregnant wife, Nadine, the day before his parents' slayings.\n"Courts recognized Mr. Baird as suffering from mental illness at the time he committed the murders, and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Theodore R. Boehm recently wrote that Mr. Baird is 'insane in the ordinary sense of the word.' It is difficult to find reasons not to agree," Daniels said in his statement.\n"However, I reach today's decision without substituting my judgment for others on the ambiguous issue of Mr. Baird's degree of insanity," Daniels said. "To me, it suffices to note that had the sentence of life without parole been available in 1987, the jury and the state would have imposed it with support of the victims' families."\nSeveral people, including Nadine Baird's sister, Laquita Anglin, urged the Parole Board last week to recommend clemency. An attorney for the state attorney general's office argued otherwise, saying Baird had escalated stories about his mental illness and that every court in his case had upheld the death sentence.\nAnglin said her prayers had been answered.\n"That's what I wanted, and that's what my mom and dad wanted. Not to be put to death," she said. "Just stay in prison where he's at and just live out his life."\nSarah Nagy, an attorney for Baird, also was pleased.\n"I have a great deal of respect for Mitch Daniels and I had faith he would consider this case seriously," she said.\nAmong other things, Baird claimed that forces had manipulated his hands as he strangled his wife and that he was being controlled by an outside force when he killed his parents the following day.\nHe also said he believed God would turn back time and bring his wife and parents back to life. But in a 3-2 ruling last week, the Indiana Supreme Court found him competent to be executed.\nNagy said Baird's case brought up the issue of whether mentally ill persons should face execution.\n"I hope it stays there and doesn't go back into the closet, and we don't return to the day where we're not stopping and seriously considering how we treat the mentally ill," Nagy said.\nIn 2004, former Gov. Joe Kernan became the first governor in 48 years to grant clemency in a capital case. He said it would have been unfair to execute Darnell Williams for the murders of a Gary couple when a mentally retarded accomplice got a life sentence.