Man convicted of assault in connection with New Brockton man’s death

A New Brockton man charged with murder and first-degree robbery was found guilty of neither after a five-day trial in Elba that ended Friday, May 13.

Jasen Scott Caradine, 33, was found not guilty of the murder of 69-year-old Pat Baker of New Brockton and not guilty of first-degree robbery in connection with the case.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated nearly eight hours over two days before finding Caradine guilty only of the lesser-included charge of first-degree assault.

Caradine remains free on bond waiting sentencing July 21 in Circuit Judge Jeff Kelley’s courtroom.

Caradine had been arrested within 15 minutes after the New Brockton police received an E-911 call April 19, 2014 from one of Baker’s neighbors who reported that he had found Baker, apparently beaten and robbed of approximately $1,000, inside Baker’s home on County Road 521 in New Brockton.

Caradine was charged with assaulting Baker with a metal baseball bat during the robbery, leaving Baker with wounds to the back of his head, multiple facial fractures, a lacerated liver and broken arm bones. Baker died in a Dothan hospital 10 days after the assault. Testimony during the trial was that Baker’s death was caused by a heart attack.

Calling it “the strangest murder case I have ever seen,” Caradine’s attorney, Matt Lamere, said that when his client was arrested at a New Brockton service station some 15 minutes after authorities had issued a “be on the lookout” alert for a black pickup truck, there was no blood found on Caradine and there was no blood found in his truck.

Authorities did not order forensic testing on Caradine’s clothing, nor did they conduct DNA testing on Caradine, according to court testimony.

Four hundred and fifty dollars in cash was found in Caradine’s pickup truck, Lamere said, before questioning how some $600 more money allegedly taken from Baker could have disappeared in 15 minutes. “The money might be the most important piece of evidence,” Lamere said. “Why didn’t (law authorities) see if Pat Baker’s DNA was on the money—they had it in their hands and they didn’t do it.”

Caradine’s clothing was not tested for traces of Baker’s blood, tire tracks found outside Baker’s home were not measured for possible vehicle identification and a cigarette butt found outside Baker’s home was not tested for DNA traces, Lamere reminded the jury in closing arguments. “There is a horrendous lack of evidence here.”

Lamere also reminded the jury in closing arguments that the neighbor who called E-911 after finding Baker was in fact a person with a felony burglary conviction.

Lamere said the convicted felon was the person, along with Baker’s daughter, who was allowed entry into Baker’s home to clean it up the day following the incident.

“Was (the convicted felon) the chief investigator in this case? It appears so,” Lamere said. “There would have been justice for Pat Baker if everyone involved had done their job.”