Gov. Mitch Daniels commuted the sentence of Arthur P. Baird II to life without the possibility of parole.

Gov. Mitch Daniels commuted the sentence of Arthur P. Baird II to life without the possibility of parole.
Baird was just hours away from eating his last meal in the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City. Baird was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection early Wednesday (August 31) for the Sept. 6, 1985, stabbing deaths of his parents, Kathryn and Arthur Baird. He also was sentenced to 60 years in prison for strangling his pregnant wife, Nadine, and eight more years for killing his unborn child the day before his parents' slayings.
"The case of Arthur Baird would justify the death penalty based upon the nature of his crimes, the unchallenged certainty that he committed them, and the care and completeness of the legal process in imposing that sentence." Daniels said in a written clemency statement issued shortly after noon.
"Nonetheless, given certain unusual, probably unique circumstances in this case, a different outcome seems more just."
Baird’s lawyers had argued he is mentally ill and, as a result, should not be put to death, a claim they are pursuing in an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court and a plea for clemency before Daniels.
After a 3-1 vote last week in which the Parole Board recommended against clemency, the Indiana Supreme Court voted 3-2 to let the execution proceed.
Baird was to be executed in the State Prison at Michigan City.
Daniels noted that life in prison was not an option for jurors in Montgomery County to consider when Baird was sentenced to death, however the option is available to jurors as an alternative in capital punishment cases now.
"The unanimous sentiment expressed by family members at the time of the trial and years later demonstrates that they believed life without parole was the most appropriate penalty for Mr. Baird," Daniels stated. "All members of the jury whose views are known also indicate that, had life without parole been an alternative available to them, they would have imposed it instead of the death penalty."
Daniels also noted that Baird rejected a term of years that essentially would have kept him in prison for life because of his severe mental illness and detachment from reality.
"Courts recognized Mr. Baird as suffering from mental illness at the time he committed the murders, and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm recently wrote that Mr. Baird is 'insane in the ordinary sense of the word.' It is difficult to find reasons not to agree." Daniels stated.
"However, I reached today’s decision without substituting my judgment for others on the ambiguous issue of Mr. Baird's degree of insanity. To me, it suffices to note that, had the sentence of life without parole been available in 1987, the jury and the State would have imposed it with the support of the victims’ families."