EVERETT — The jury believed her. Not him.
She said she was raped as she walked to work on a Sunday morning. He testified the girl, 17, wanted to have sex with him in the dirt and rain outside a stranger’s condominium.
The girl was telling the truth and Larry Baker was lying, jurors decided.
A Snohomish County jury on Thursday convicted Baker, 34, of raping the girl while holding a knife to her throat in 2007.
Jurors deliberated for two days before reaching a verdict.
“I’m glad the jury did the right thing,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said. “I could tell from talking to them afterward they clearly put a lot of thought into it. Ultimately, they believed the 17-year-old kid.”
Baker is scheduled to be sentenced March 2. He faces more than 12 years behind bars. Baker could be locked up longer if, after serving his sentence, a state review board determines he is a danger to the community and likely to commit other sex crimes.
The Everett man also faces a rape allegation in Waterloo, Iowa. Genetic evidence collected during the Everett investigation matched DNA collected for an unsolved rape in Iowa.
Authorities there have a warrant for his arrest. It’s unclear if Baker will first serve his time for the Everett rape before he’s extradited to Iowa, Matheson said.
Baker stared straight ahead as Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry read the verdict. He clenched his jaw and eventually bowed his head as Castleberry thanked the jurors for their service.
Defense attorney Pete Mazzone patted his client’s shoulder. Mazzone tried to convince the jury that girl made up the attack, possibly to avoid being fired for showing up late for work that morning.
Baker’s family and friends were inside the courtroom as the verdict was read. One woman fell to her knees, sobbing. She was escorted out by family and a county marshal.
Baker’s teenage son left the courthouse with bloodied knuckles after he punched a wall outside the courtroom, according to a county marshal.
The victim, now 18, wasn’t there to hear Thursday’s verdict. An advocate with prosecutor’s office was expected to deliver the news, Matheson said.
The deputy prosecutor had told jurors the girl’s life has been changed forever after crossing paths with Baker. During closing arguments, Matheson showed jurors a picture of the girl taken a couple hours after the attack.
She had tears in her eyes as she sat on a hospital bed. She was still wearing her uniform for her job at McDonald’s.
“If you believe her, he is guilty as charged,” Matheson told the jury.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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