A man accused of multiple assault counts from an incident which ended with a serious vehicle crash was indicted by the Warren County Grand Jury Friday.
The grand jury returned true bills against Jason Kent Baker, 47, for charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated domestic assault, vandalism over $1,000, two counts of domestic assault and aggravated vehicular assault.
The charges stem from Baker’s Oct. 21 arrest after a head-on collision on Old Nashville Hwy. – a wreck which followed an alleged domestic assault at his Brown Chapel Rd. Home.
Joseph Moore, the alleged victim in the case, testified for the prosecution in Baker’s preliminary hearing Dec. 5 in General Sessions court, recalling the events of the afternoon of Oct. 21 when he came home after multiple calls and text messages from Baker, his roommate, about the welfare of a pet cat.
Moore’s testimony, which corroborated reports made in Baker’s original arrest warrant, stated after he returned home to reassure Baker the cat would be fine, Baker became enraged to the point he became physical, pushing and pulling him around the property and breaking a television by pushing it to the floor and kicking the screen.
After being advised by a 911 operator to get out of the house, Moore said he went outside and got into his car, although he was soon followed by Baker, who allegedly got into his own vehicle.
“I was going to back out and let Mr. Baker leave, but before I had the chance he had taken his car and it looked like he was going to hit my car broad-side,” Moore testified. “I pulled forward, and he pulled his car around and got behind my car. I drove around the house and stopped in the front yard. Mr. Baker struck my car from behind, so I got out to see what the damage was, and Mr. Baker reversed his car and sandwiched me between my car and his car. I went over both cars, and the angle of the cars was such I fell to the ground between the two cars. He struck my car, and then pulled off and fled the scene.”
After leaving Brown Chapel Rd., Baker allegedly headed toward Old Nashville Hwy., and was traveling eastbound toward McMinnville when he crossed the center line just past Bethany Rd. and ran head-on into a Ford F-150 driven by Bobby Perry. Warren County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Peyton Norris testified Baker displayed several signs of intoxication, including smelling of alcohol, slurred speech, red, glossy eyes and difficulty maintaining his balance.
Shortly after he arrived, Norris testified two individuals later identified as Baker’s parents came to the scene, and a remark made to them by the defendant seemed to show he had hit Perry’s truck deliberately.
“Mr. Baker spontaneously uttered, ‘I told you I was going to kill myself,’ and I detained him at that time,” Norris said.
