Psychiatrist: Man Was Insane "Nerd On Steroids" When He Beat Girlfriend's Mother To Death With Baseball Bat

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 23, 2012 2:25PM

A psychiatrist testified in Lake County Court Monday that Daniel Baker suffered from three severe mental illnesses when he beat his ex-girlfriend’s mother to death with a baseball bat two years ago. The 24-year-old Baker is accused of running his car into the home of 50-year-old Marina Askman on April 1, 2010, then beat her to death with a baseball bat. Baker then fled with his girlfriend, Kristina Askman, to Montana, where he was arrested by authorities.

Baker confessed to the murder during interrogation by Lake County investigators who traveled to Montana. He said he was angry Marina Askman asked him to stop seeing her developmentally disabled daughter, who Baker called “the brains” of the relationship. Kristina Askman, who now lives in a group home, testified Baker hit her mother in the knee and head with an aluminum baseball bat, then tried to set fire to her with a cigarette lighter that didn’t work. She also testified she often hit Baker, forgave him for killing her mother and that the two were engaged.

Dr. Alexander Obolsky testified Baker suffers from two types of personality disorder, a cognitive disorder that left him insane at the time of the attack, and that he has “many strange and bizarre things having to do with voices and thoughts.”

“Mr. Baker is a nerd on steroids,” Obolsky said.

Some of Bakers actions in court seem to lend credence to Obolsky’s assessment. Last week he told attorneys Ed Genson and Blaire Dalton to stop arguing he was insane and that he didn’t kill Marina Askman. On Monday he nearly took the witness stand to “clear up some misunderstandings” about the murder, against Genson’s advisement.