LONDON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A federal jury has returned a guilty verdict in the case against Patrick Baker for the 2014 murder of Donald Mills, Jr. during a home invasion.
Baker was convicted of the killing in a state trial in 2017 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
But In 2019, then-Governor Matt Bevin pardoned Baker, writing the evidence against him was, "sketchy at best."
It was later reported by the Courier-Journal that Baker's family hosted a fundraiser for Bevin. The former governor tweeted at the time that any suggestion his pardons took finances or politics into consideration was offensive and false.
The latest verdict is a massive relief for Melinda Mills, the victim's sister.
"As soon as the judge read it off that he was guilty...it was tears of joy," she said. "It wasn't tears of sorrow it was tears of joy."
It's been difficult for the family to wait for the result of this trial, she said, but worth it in the end.
"It was a year and a half that we had to be patient, we had to be quiet," she said. "But now we're at the point where we're at."
Baker is scheduled to be sentenced on December 21. He faces up to life in prison.
"Then, I was highly upset with the pardon but I look at it now, everything happens for a reason," Mills said.
