KOOKY PHILADELPHIA HEADSHRINKER STRANGLED TO DEAATH BY MALE PROSTITUTE

Dr. Howard Baker, a married psychiatrist, was strangled to death in a Philadelphia hotel room by Manuel Baez, a male prostitute with numerous probation violations for which he was not jailed

On Sunday evening, 75-year-old Dr, Howard Baker, a married psychiatrist who specialized in relationships, checked into a Rodeway Inn in downtown Philadelphia. The relationship expert must have been experiencing some relationship problems of his own because the kooky headshrinker hooked up with Manuel Baez, 27, a male prostitute. On Monday, a hotel maid found Dr. Baker toes up and naked with a belt wrapped around his dead neck.

Baez was arrested because he had been seen leaving the hotel with his victim’s backpack. Baez also stole Dr. Baker’s wallet. He was charged with criminal homicide and robbery.

The murder of a kooky headshrinker is not what interests me in this case. It’s how the probation department and the courts handled Baez that gets the hair on my back to stand up. Baez hs a rap sheet that consists of 70 charges since he became an adult, including charges for assault, drug possession, prowling and making terroristic threats. Despite all the charges, he has spent little time behind bars. And he was not jailed despite seven arrests and 10 convictions while he was on probation.

Here is how the Daily Mail described his probation treatment:

Court documents reveal the shaven-haired rent boy, who has a distinctive scar on his right cheek, has been arrested dozens of times and has a rap sheet stretching to seven pages.

He has faced more than 70 charges since becoming an adult, including assault, drug possession, prowling and making terroristic threats, but has only spent sporadic time behind bars.

In March of this year Baez was placed on probation for three years after admitting felony theft by unlawful taking at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Pennsylvania State law dictates that every fresh arrest is a probation violation and just two weeks later Baez was arrested in Philadelphia on suspicion of robbery, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

The case collapsed when a witness failed to come to court but Baez was arrested a further time for disorderly conduct and then four more times on various drugs charges between June and August in nearby Lehigh County.

He was eventually taken into custody for 57 days before he appeared before a Lehigh County court on November 11 and admitted possessing a controlled substance and evidence tampering.

Judge Robert L. Steinberg dished out a jail sentence of up to 23 months but court documents reveal the habitual drug user was released immediately on parole because of time served.

He was awaiting yet another trial in the New Year for alleged disorderly conduct on Pennsylvania's SEPTA transport network although this is likely to be discontinued now.

That meant that at the time of Dr Baker's murder Baez remained at liberty despite having been arrested seven times, charged with 18 different offenses and convicted of 10 - all within nine months of being placed on probation.

Considering how Baez’ arrests and probation violations were handled, it would seem that some judges should be removed from the bench and some heads should roll at the probation department.

Now if I were a criminal, I would want to be one in Philadelphia. Even if caught, it looks like you can get away with everything but murder in the City of Brotherly Love.