Suspect Refuses
Plea Deal
By CHRIS BUTLER

SEBRING — An Avon Park man charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse has refused state attorneys’ offer of a plea in exchange for a lighter punishment.

Attorneys for Ronald Wayne Baker, 54, 3323 N. Horseshoe Drive, told 10th Circuit Court Judge Peter Estrada Monday that he would not plead to lesser charges of aggravated battery and attempted manslaughter.

They said it was Baker’s decision, and his alone.

It’s a gamble that may put Baker in prison for the rest of his life if it doesn’t pay off.

Jury selection for the trial began Monday.

The trial is scheduled to begin in Estrada’s courtroom Thursday.

Baker faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison for the aggravated child abuse charge if convicted. He faces a mandatory 25-year to life sentence if convicted of attempted second-degree murder.

Baker told Estrada in court Monday that he fully understood the potential consequences of not agreeing to the offered plea deal. 

The incident for which Baker was arrested and charged occurred in September 2005 when Highlands County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a complaint of a person being shot in Baker’s Horseshoe Drive neighborhood.

Many of the details in Baker’s original arrest report are blacked out because of the child abuse charges. Sheriff’s deputies said the incident occurred because Baker was upset by the sound of a four-wheeler passing by his home.

It wasn’t clear in the report if a child was the one driving the four-wheeler as the name of the person driving it was blacked out.

Baker told deputies he had grown tired of the four-wheeler passing by his home and walked out to the road armed with a stick. Baker said he swung the stick against the driver’s chest once the four-wheeler came alongside him again.

The impact from the stick knocked the driver off the four-wheeler.

The sheriff’s report said the driver of the four-wheeler ran home and reported the incident to an adult in the house. That adult’s name is not being released by Highlands Today.

The adult told deputies he then walked to Baker’s home and tried asking why he hit the driver while he was riding his four-wheeler.

“According to Mr. Baker’s testimony, when he opened the door he was armed with a 32 caliber semi-automatic handgun,” the sheriff’s report said.

The report said that’s when Baker told the man to get off his property, but not before the other man pressed his chest against Baker’s.

The report said Baker fired one shot toward the other man’s chin, prompting the other man to flee back to his own residence and call for help.