Bundy supporter convicted of police battery in Idaho dodged court. Here’s his sentence

A 72-year-old Nampa man who was charged with felony battery of a police officer dodged court after being arrested alongside far-right activist Ammon Bundy three years ago.

After being convicted in 2022 and finally being sentenced in 2024, Casey Baker can go back to avoiding the Ada County Courthouse — a judge gave him time served, with no fines, restitution or court costs.

Baker’s charges dated to March 2021, when he was arrested outside the courthouse and charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison under Idaho law.

Baker “forcefully” grabbed and pulled an Ada County sheriff’s deputy’s arm, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office said in its criminal complaint. He also was charged with a misdemeanor for resisting and obstructing an officer, but that was later dismissed at prosecutors’ request.

Following trial, a jury found Baker guilty on April 11, 2022, and he had a sentencing scheduled for July 6 that year. But he never showed. After he skipped a hearing less than two weeks later, a judge issued a warrant for failure to appear.

He finally did appear in January this year, and Baker told the court that he simply took the deputy’s arm to move him a few steps, because he was afraid his wife did not have enough room and was about to fall. Baker also has Parkinson’s disease and struggles to maintain his balance, according to court documents.

“I backed him up two or three steps to give her some room back there, defending myself and protecting my wife,” Baker said in front of Fourth District Judge James Cawthon.

Prosecutors noted that Baker had no criminal history and said they had offered a plea deal originally to drop the charge to a misdemeanor. The state asked the judge to give Baker a judgment of one year fixed and two years indeterminate in prison — and then suspend that sentence and place the defendant on probation.

Cawthon sentenced Baker to time served, indicating that Baker had spent about 31 days in jail throughout the proceedings. The judge said he understood why the jury found him guilty, but also said it appeared on video that Baker was struggling to keep his balance in a crowd on the day he was arrested.

“For a person without Parkinson’s, for an extremely healthy person, for a person younger than you to have maintained their balance would have been difficult,” Cawthon said.

The crowd that day was a result of Bundy’s presence at the Ada County Courthouse with another man to face charges of trespassing at the Idaho Capitol. Court security would not let them enter because they refused to wear masks in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. Since the two were not in court, a judge issued failure to appear warrants.

Outside, Ada County sheriff’s deputies moved to arrest Bundy and the other defendant on those warrants, causing a scuffle to break out between Bundy’s supporters and law enforcement, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Baker, a supporter of Bundy’s, was involved in that, leading to his arrest.