DeAndre Baker’s lawyer guarantees dismissal of charges ‘soon’
Not if, but when.
According to one of his attorneys, the charges against DeAndre Baker will be dropped and the criminal case in Broward County, Fla., against the Giants cornerback will go away.
“This case is going to be dismissed,’’ Patrick Patel told The Post on Monday. “One day soon, this case is gonna be dismissed.’’
Baker, 22, is facing four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault stemming from an incident last Wednesday night at a house party in the Miami area. Baker could be facing a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison for each of the four armed robbery charges.
The arrest warrant stated Baker and Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar stole more than $12,000 in cash and expensive watches. It also said Baker pointed a gun at a victim and told an unidentified masked assailant to shoot someone walking into the party.
“Go look at the criminal history of the victims,’’ said Patel, the New Jersey-based lawyer who is Baker’s personal attorney and is working on this case along with Florida-based attorney Bradford Cohen. “Go look at the criminal history of Baker. You know what the score is? One hundred to zero. Baker.
“They’re ruining this kid for no reason at all, other than he was an easy mark. I believe this is an extortion to try to get money from him.’’
Baker spent Saturday night at the Broward County jail, posted $200,000 bond on Sunday and was released.
Patel vehemently denied the report that Baker lost $70,000 while gambling in a dice game a few days before the alleged incident.
“That’s absolutely not true, I don’t know how that story started,” Patel said. “If somebody is going to come out and say that, then I want to see who won $70,000, I want to see if they can claim it on their tax return, I want to see if they’re going to go to the police department and admit they’re running a gambling house. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Who walks around the street carrying $70,000 in Miramar, Florida?’’
Contacted by The Post, the Broward County District Attorney’s office had no comment on Patel’s claims “because this is a pending investigation.”
The police report also said there were three luxury cars “prepositioned’’ at the house party, which could be construed as premeditation, as the cars were parked for a quick getaway. Patel said this is not true and is in the process of getting video from houses in the area or traffic cams that will disprove the “preposition’’ theory.
“If they don’t go with this narrative, the drama’s not there,’’ Patel said.
Four of the alleged victims have already recanted the statements they gave police regarding Dunbar’s involvement. Patel said he did not seek statements from those victims and cannot get them now, because all four have hired lawyers.
“We need to question the credibility of the victims,’’ Patel said. “We’re all just taking the victims’ word as gospel. The victims have already recanted against Dunbar and I wasn’t comfortable going to these victims and getting them to sign papers because they’re already waffling and making up stories.
“Once they hire a lawyer, we can’t speak to them to get these documents signed. That would be unethical, improper, witness tampering, on and on and on.’’
Dominick Johnson, a friend of both Baker and Dunbar, stated in an affidavit that he never feared for his life and Baker did not steal anything.
Patel said Johnson is a high school coach and “is as clean as can be.’’ Patel also said Baker was wearing a coronavirus mask at the party.
“He’s not wearing a mask to rob anybody,’’ he said.
Baker was carrying a gun, which is registered to him in the state of Florida.
“First of all, he’s got a constitutional right to carry a gun,’’ Patel said. “The state of Florida did obviously background checks and they felt Baker was of such good, high quality, they gave him a permit not buy a guy but to carry a gun. How bad can this kid have been? We’re not dealing with some thug who has a gun.’’
Patel said he and Cohen are in the process of obtaining video that will show Baker’s innocence.
“We don’t want to disclose what we’ve got because the burden of proof is on the victims,’’ he said.
Interestingly, Patel said the detective on the case, Mark Moretti, “is a very sharp guy, he’s seeing through this whole charade.’’
The state has 30 days to proceed with or drop the case.
“I think between [Moretti] and the Broward County prosecutor’s office, they’re going to make the right decision,’’ Patel said. “Even if they make the right decision, we’re still going to have to do damage control because everybody had this kid guilty. They already made him a bust. It’s not right.’’