Huffer who struck Mines student gets suspended sentence

By Journal staff | Friday, December 05, 2008

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There's no way Maconnell Baker can make up for what he did to Shaun Herrod and his family on May 7. Baker admitted that in apologizing at his sentencing Wednesday.

"The consequences of this case, the injuries that have been inflicted on these folks, physically and emotionally, are greater than any I think I've ever seen," 7th Circuit Judge Merton Tice told Baker at a sentencing hearing.

Herrod, now 30, suffered a traumatic brain injury when Baker blacked out at the wheel after huffing Dust-Off. Baker, 25, plowed into the driver's side door of Herrod's car as he sat waiting to pull out into traffic.

Baker later pleaded guilty to vehicular battery. On Wednesday, Tice gave him a 10-year suspended prison sentence. That means Baker won't go to prison unless he fails to follow the rules Tice set out for him.

Tice ordered Baker to serve six months in jail, complete 300 hours of community service and continue substance-abuse treatment. He also must pay 20 percent of his gross income toward restitution of $417,619.93.

Herrod was one semester away from earning a civil engineering degree from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology when the accident happened. He is now in therapy to regain his ability to walk, talk, and do many other things most people take for granted.

Agnes Steele, Herrod's fiancee and the mother of his two children, told Baker that his decision to huff and drive has affected her family's lives.

"Mr. Baker, I don't hate you, but I hate the choice that you made that day. Because that day ruined our lives," she said in a calm, quiet voice. "Will you keep him in your mind as your life goes on?

"Don't forget about us, Mr. Baker, because we will never forget about you," Steele told Baker, who stood with his eyes downcast.

Steele said Herrod did not want to speak at the sentencing because he speaks so slowly.

Pat Mahon, dean of students at the School of Mines, said she is "devastated" for the family.

"He would have been a great role model as an engineer," she told Tice, adding that she hoped Herrod would eventually return to school. "My belief is they continue to be role models."

Baker's attorney, Elizabeth Frederick, said Baker huffed Dust-Off -- a propellant cleaner usually used to blow dust out of electronic equipment -- for the first time May 7 because he thought it would alter his voice and he could leave a funny message for his friends.

"What started out to be a practical joke, your honor, turned into a tragedy for many, many lives," Frederick told Tice. Baker, she continued, "is a good-hearted, good man that made a very, very, poor, stupid decision."

She and others said Baker -- who has no previous criminal history -- has taken steps to turn his life around, attending substance-abuse treatment, 12-Step meetings and church. He has a college degree and wants to get a master's degree in counseling.

Baker said he prays daily for Herrod's family, that their lives will go back to normal and Herrod can complete his education.

"There's no apology I could give to make up for what I've done," Baker said, crying as he read from a prepared statement. But he did apologize, to Herrod, Steele and their two young children.

"I'm so sorry for what I've done," he said. "I will never forgive myself for ever putting you near harm and harming your dad and your family."

Judge Tice said Baker, who had worked as a youth counselor, should have known huffing would impair his judgment and could make him black out.

Baker admitted to driving to Office Max on May 7, buying Dust-Off and huffing it in his car in the parking lot. He then drove toward Knollwood Heights Elementary School when school was letting out for the day. As Tice and Steele both pointed out, Baker could easily have killed a child.

Tice urged Baker and the victims to participate in Restorative Justice, a program that brings offenders and victims together to talk about crimes or disputes.

"I can't make it right," Tice said before pronouncing sentence. "I will never enter a judgment that is satisfactory to anybody in a case like this."

Even so, Steele said the sentencing was a letdown.

"We would have at least expected (Baker) to see some time in prison," she said. At any rate, she said, the burden of repaying $400,000-plus in medical bills should be on Baker's shoulders, not theirs.

Neither Steele nor Herrod was convinced of Baker's remorse.

"I don't think it's remorse," she said. "I think it's regret."

For now, the family will continue to live day to day.

"Well, I guess we'll just keep trying to walk," Steele said before wheeling Herrod toward the courthouse elevators.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com