Appeals court reverses conviction in bar fight

10/1/2010

BOWLING GREEN — The 2009 conviction of a man sentenced to eight years in prison was reversed by the Sixth District Court of Appeals Thursday, forcing his case back to Wood County Common Pleas Court, where he was found guilty of felonious assault.

Joshua Baker, 30, was sentenced to prison in December after he was found guilty during a bench trial before Judge Alan Mayberry. He was convicted of throwing a shot glass during a Feb. 1, 2009, bar fight that seriously injured a bystander.

According to an opinion released Thursday, the appellate court did not find substantial evidence that Baker “knowingly” caused the injuries to the victim. “The evidence presented simply was not sufficient to show that appellant knowingly caused her injuries,” it said.

Baker was arrested Feb. 25, 2009. At the time, he admitted being in a fight with a man earlier that month at the Cla-Zel Bar, 127 Main St. The victim suffered a broken nose, facial fractures, broken teeth, and soft-tissue damage.