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Homicide hearing focuses on police response
HUNTINGTON -- A grand jury will hear a first-degree murder charge against Teresa Lynn Baker, but her attorney says police should be held accountable for failing to respond to a domestic disturbance call.
The case involves a Feb. 4 fatal shooting at 156 Cedar St., off Norway Avenue.
Huntington police testified that Baker fired three shots that killed Jeffrey Sadler, 25, of Huntington. The gunshots occurred one hour after Baker called 911 to report a domestic disturbance between Sadler and her daughter, Alison M. Grieco. Huntington police did not respond to the initial call.
The couple had months of conflict before the shooting, according to court documents.
Defense attorney Charlie Hatcher said the city should be held responsible for Sadler's death, not his client. He played four 911 recordings Wednesday. The first was Baker reporting the domestic disturbance. She told 911 she learned about the ongoing disturbance when she heard screaming and one of her daughter's children said the couple was fighting. She said she had been told "he had been threatening her with a knife, saying he was going to gut her."
The dispatcher responded by saying "We're going to get (police) right there," but she waited for nearly an hour and police never arrived.
Forensic detectives found a couple of stab marks in the wall. Grieco told police that Sadler had stabbed the wall with a dining room knife during their preceding argument, according to testimony provided by Huntington Police Det. Chris Sperry.
The second call was that of a Huntington police supervisor discussing the domestic call and officer movements. The call ended with one voice saying the department had no units to respond to the Cedar Street call.
The third recording featured a neighbor reporting hearing shots fired and screaming at the Cedar Street residence. The dispatcher responded by saying "Oh no."
The fourth call was Baker's frantic voice saying "I just killed him ... I just shot Jeff Sadler." The recording also picked up Grieco's screams and immediate disbelief.
"Why would you do this?" she said. "Mom, why would you do this with the kids here."
Huntington police took three children from the residence, two of which were Sadler's.
Hatcher called the first-degree murder charge "an overreaction" and urged Cabell County Magistrate Mike Woelfel not to be "sucked into shoddy police work."
"This isn't premeditated murder," he said. "There is no doubt in listening to that tape, they won't get anybody in this room, they won't get anybody in this county to find her guilty of first-degree, premeditated murder."
Assistant Cabell County Prosecutor Sherry Eling said there is enough evidence to support the charge. She said, "The message needs to be: Don't take things into your own hands."
Sperry testified Baker stayed on the porch after her first call to 911 and kept a gun inside of a bunny rabbit slipper. Det. Cass McMillian compared the slipper to a child's stuffed animal.
Sperry testified Baker eventually left the porch. She walked next door and fired three shots, hitting Sadler in the chest, shoulder and forehead. McMillian testified the victim's body was at the front door when he arrived at the house.
Sperry dismissed defense arguments that the shooting was an act of self defense. He believed Baker had time to consider her actions between each gunshot.
"She probably thought 'The police weren't coming. I've got a gun. I'm tired of this. I'm going next door,'" he said, testifying about the shooting and troubles within the relationship. "I believe she was tired of the situation and she took care of it."
Sperry testified Baker never told the dispatcher that she had a gun. He believed that information would have enhanced the initial call's priority.
Hatcher told the court he intends to bring a civil suit against the city of Huntington because of its inability to respond to the initial disturbance call.
Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook continued to stand behind decisions made by his supervisors on Feb. 4. He has no knowledge that dispatchers relayed information about reports of Sadler's threats.
"It did not mention that (Baker) was anything but calm and collected," he said. "There was nothing that raised any red flags with the information that was relayed to us at that time."
Holbrook has said limited manpower delayed the response. The department had 10 officers on duty with eight vehicles. The shift included a sergeant and lieutenant. Holbrook said each officer was involved with arrests or in-progress calls.
The Herald-Dispatch filed a Freedom of Information request for the 911 recording and other transmissions from Feb. 4, but the request was denied. Assistant 911 Director Mike Tatum cited the ongoing investigation and state code.
Baker's attorney supplied The Herald-Dispatch with a copy of the 911 calls that he cited in court Wednesday. Those recordings can be heard at herald-dispatch.com.
Tatum would not comment when asked if dispatchers followed proper protocols that night.
Baker is being held at the Western Regional Jail without bond.
In other court action Wednesday, Cabell County Magistrate Betty Wolford officially dismissed a warrant seeking the victim's arrest. It was filed when Sadler failed to appear at a December 2007 hearing concerning an earlier misdemeanor domestic battery charge. The battery case also was dismissed Thursday.
Grieco had filed for two domestic violence petitions against Sadler, but both requests were eventually denied when she failed to appear in court for followup hearings.
