Clifford Baker was a fifteen year old living in Illinois when he would murder his neighbors
According to court documents Clifford Baker would break into his neighbors home and murdered the couple: Mike Mahon and Deb Tish, as they slept
Police would later link Clifford Baker to a series of break and enters in the neighborhood
Clifford Baker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Clifford Baker Current Information
| Parent Institution: | DANVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER |
| Offender Status: | IN CUSTODY |
| Location: | DANVILLE |
| Admission Date: | 01/31/2013 |
| Projected Parole Date: | 02/04/2094 |
| Last Paroled Date: | |
| Projected Discharge Date: | 02/04/2097 |
Clifford Baker Case
The 22-year-old man who initially was given a life sentence for murdering a neighbor couple in Loogootee about 6½ years ago on Monday was given what the judge termed “a de facto life sentence.”
Clifford Baker, who was 15 years old when he fatally shot John Michael “Mike” Mahon and Debra Tish while they slept in their Loogootee home, exhibited remorse for his actions in the early morning hours of Aug. 4, 2010, prior to receiving sentences totaling 85 years on Monday in Fayette County Circuit Court.
But he did so after two relatives of the murdered couple said, just as they did back in October 2011, that Baker should receive the maximum punishment for taking from them something they can never regain, two important people in their lives.
A new sentencing hearing for Clifford Baker was ordered by the appellate court, stating that the mandatory imposition of a life sentence without parole for a person under the age of 18 violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
Clifford Baker was convicted in October 2011 of murdering Mahon and Tish, and also found guilty on three counts of home invasion for entering the home of Mahon and Tish as well as the residence of other neighbors Steve and Randy Krajefska, where he attacked Randy Krajefska while armed with a knife.
Judge Michael McHaney sentenced Baker to life in prison for the murders, and gave him three 30-year sentences for the home invasion convictions.
At the conclusion of Monday’s new sentencing hearing, Judge Allan Lolie sentenced Baker to 37½ years for each of the murders, giving him 75 years behind bars, and 10 years for two counts of home invasion.
Lolie ordered the murder sentences to be served consecutively. “I do believe consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public,” Lolie said.
The home invasion sentences are to be served concurrently, but consecutive to the murder sentences.
Lolie said that Baker will not be given good time credit for the murder sentences, but on the home invasion sentences, he will be given credit for time served since his arrest on Aug. 4, 2010 (2,435 days).
Monday’s re-sentencing got under way with Fayette County State’s Attorney Joshua Morrison having Melissa Mahon, the daughter of Mike Mahon, and LaTisha Paslay, a niece of Deb Tish, read victim impact statements in which they told Lolie how the murders have affected them and their families.
Melissa Mahon said that her father “raised me hunting, fishing, shooting skeet. These are things that my family enjoyed doing together.
“Since Aug. 4, 2010, I have not been able to hunt, shoot skeet or even be around guns being fired. A huge amount of emotion comes over me and I have to get away from the sounds of guns being fired, for my mind wonders: What did it sound like that terrible night? Did they hear the shots? Did they see them?” Mahon said.
“My dad became a great-grandfather in February of 2015, and this great-granddaughter will never get to meet her great-grandfather Mike.
“So, one day, when she’s old enough, we can only take her to the cemeteries where they are buried and tell her the stories we have,” Mahon said.
“Five years ago, I met my fiancé, and I say all of the time, ‘I wish you could have met my father, because you would have loved each other.
“So, now I plan and prepare for my wedding day. I will not have my dad to walk me down the aisle or be there for a father-daughter dance. So, my special day is not as special because I will be missing two very special people,” Mahon said.
Paslay said that the lives of people can change in an instant. “That instant for our family was (on) Aug. 4, 2010, when the defendant made the choice to take Deb and Mike from this world in the most horrific of ways, murdering them while they slept in what they believed to be a safe place, their home,” she said.
Paslay said that when asked, she says that the deaths of her aunt and uncle would not have been easier had they come some other way. “It is never easy to lose a loved one, no matter what the circumstances.
“I can tell you that the manner in which they did, in fact, died, only serves to fuel the hatred that we hold for Clifford Baker, as well as the distaste we have for those in his family who try and blame our family for where he is at.
“We did not raise him, we did not have anything to do with the person he became as he grew up, and we sure did not put him on the path that led him to break into their house … grab two rifles and shoot them multiple times as they slept,” Paslay said.
“Debbie and Mike have been gone for 2,435 days, 348 weeks, 58,440 hours … and our family has felt that loss every second of each and every day,” she said.
“It is 2,435 days they could have spent laughing with and loving their family, but instead Clifford Baker chose their fate and murdered them in his sleep. He took it upon himself to be their judge, jury and he was, by his own admission, their executioner,” Paslay said, asking that Baker be given the maximum sentence allowed by law.
“Clifford Baker can still see his family during visiting hours, they can exchange cards for holidays. He gets to be outdoors, gets to eat three square meals a day and gets to converse with fellow inmates.
“Above all else,” Paslay said, “he still lives and breathes each and every day. Deb and Mike are buried 6 feet underground in a cemetery, and the only thing we can see are their headstones and the pictures we hold dearly.
“On Aug. 4, 2010, Clifford Baker chose the route of an evil, sadistic monster, a boogeyman, if you will, who I do not feel is any better than a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of a shoe,” Paslay said, closing with the belief that if Baker were ever released from prison, “he will offend again.”
Baker’s court-appointed attorney, Public Defender William Starnes, presented documents showing that Baker has tried to improve himself in prison, earning A’s and B’s in classes and earning a high school diploma, and being asked to help other students.
Starnes said that Baker has had “not behavior issues,” and that he has taken classes to help him better deal with anger and stress.
Morrison asked Baker if he had been fired from a class, and Baker conceded, saying that he had joked with a correctional officer, and the officer took offense, writing him a ticket. Asked by Starnes about his current relationship with that officer, Baker said, “Everything’s fine.”
Morrison asked Lolie to again give Baker a life sentence, “because he gave the victims a death sentence and their families a life sentence.
“Justice cries out for a life sentence,” Morrison said.
“It shakes me to the core to think he (could) get out and do this again,” he said.
Starnes asked Lolie for a 25-year sentence on each murder count, to run concurrently, saying that Baker “is trying to get better.
“There is no excuse (for what Baker did), but there is an explanation,” Starnes said.
As Baker was growing up, “Everyone in his life … kicked the can down the road, took no interest in him.
“He was raised by his grandmother and by a father who abused his mother and drank every day. An uncle tried to get involved, but he was chased off,” Starnes said.
He contended that Baker should have been given more extensive treatment after he shot his dog and himself a short time before the murders. And, he said, his family “can’t be bothered to help.
“The only time anybody has ever tried to help him is since he’s been locked up,” Starnes said.
“He can grow, he can become a non-dangerous member of society,” he said.
“The families will never get over their pain, but the court has to elevate itself about the desires of the community,” Starnes said. “Do the right thing, do what justice desires.”
Allowed to make a statement before sentencing, Baker said, “I would like to ask for their forgiveness, even though I don’t deserve it.
“I wake up every day wishing I could do something to bring them back, but that’s not possible,” Baker said.
“I’m trying to improve myself. I have changed my mindset, changed my way of thinking.
“I am sorry for the pain I placed on everyone involved,” Baker said.
In pronouncing sentence, Lolie responded to defense evidence regarding the impact of Cymbalta, an anti-depressant medication that Baker was taking at the time of the murders. Trial evidence also showed he had been drinking alcohol and used marijuana that evening.
“He did know what he was doing,” Lolie said. “He told a girl on MySpace he was going to do something bad.
“Clearly, the defendant’s home life was not a good situation. His life could have been better at home, without question.
“That does not excuse, explain or justify (his actions),” Lolie said.
“He clearly did not plan that (murders), presumably,” the judge said, but had “told a girl on MySpace he was going to do something bad.
“There was a plan, but he may not know exactly what it was,” Lolie said.
“I believe that we all wouldn’t have been here if he hadn’t planned to do something bad,” he said.
After the hearing, Paslay said that, considering that parole was an available option, “we were ecstatic at the result.
“He will be in his mid-90s when he has an opportunity to be released, and that is what we wanted, to have him locked up so that no other family has to go through the nightmare we have endured for coming up on seven years,” she said.
“No one knows what tomorrow can bring,” she said. “Be sure to tell those you love just how much you do love them, because in the blink of an eye, your entire life changes course and sometimes those you love most are gone forever,” Paslay said.
