Man indicted for 2010 Cherokee County murder

 

Cherokee County Sheriff's Office received a call on Aug. 27, 2010 from a passerby about 6:50 p.m. to a person lying in the driveway of a home in the Shadybrook subdivision of Lake Palestine.

 

Deputies and Detectives responded to the home in the 100 block of Jackie Street and found William Earl Baker, 52, of Bullard, dead with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the torso.

 

Sheriff's investigators later began processing the scene, collecting evidence and interviewing residents in the community.

 

Information was limited, but the detectives with the Sheriff's Office followed all leads it had and those that came up in the following months.

 

A break came in June when detectives became privy to individuals that possibly had specific information and details that weren't given to the public and detectives found the information was consistent with the evidence from the scene.

 

Detectives learned the suspect was in prison on an unrelated felony conviction from another county and were able to use and substantiate information through a forensic examination of the victim's home computer. Cherokee County Sheriff's detectives executed an evidentiary search warrant at a home of the suspect's family and found what is believed to be the murder weapon.

 

On June 28, two deputies went to the TDCJ prison unit where the suspect was incarcerated and he was transported back to Cherokee County. The suspect was interviewed by Sheriff's Lt. Gina Battley and Detective Brad George.

 

The suspect then confessed to the murder after he was confronted with evidence obtained by law enforcement. He was transported back to prison pending indictment and a murder warrant.

 

On July 25th, 2011, the Cherokee County Grand Jury indicted William Craig Dempsey, of Anderson County, for the murder of William Baker.

 

On Sept. 14, William Dempsey was transported from his assigned TDCJ prison unit back to Cherokee County where he was formally arrested and charged for the murder. His bail was set at $100,000 dollars by JP#2, Judge Brenda Dominy.

 

On Sept. 15, Dempsey was transported to the Cherokee County Courthouse and brought before the 369th Judicial District Judge, Bascom Bentley. Judge Bentley then appointed attorney Allen Ross to represent Dempsey.

 

A trial date has not been set as of this release.

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Athens Review, Athens, Texas
September 19, 2011
Palestine man charged in murder

PAUL STONE
Palestine Herald-Press

PALESTINE — A 25-year-old Palestine man and former Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional officer has been charged with the August 2010 murder of a 52-year-old Bullard man.

William Craig Dempsey, 25, of Palestine, who is presently serving time for a bribery conviction relating to his former TDCJ employment, was charged with the August 2010 murder of William Earl Baker, 52, of Bullard Thursday before 369th State District Judge Bascom W. Bentley III at the Cherokee County Courthouse in Rusk.

Around 6:50 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2010, Cherokee County authorities received a call from a passerby who reported seeing a person lying in the driveway of a residence in the Shadybrook subdivision near Lake Palestine.

Upon their arrival, officers discovered Baker deceased from an apparent gunshot wound to the torso.

The investigation into Baker's murder received a break this June when authorities received information identifying Dempsey as a possible suspect in the case.

Dempsey was sentenced to 20 years in the TDCJ this past January after his probation was revoked on a bribery conviction in Anderson County.

In June, Cherokee County sheriff's deputies interviewed Dempsey who ultimately confessed to the murder, according to authorities.

Authorities have described Dempsey and Baker as being acquaintances, but not friends.

Dempsey now faces five-to-99 years or life in prison on the Cherokee County murder charge.

In May 2009, Dempsey was originally sentenced to five years in the TDCJ after pleading guilty to the second-degree felony charge of bribery in Anderson County.

Dempsey, however, received deferred adjudication, meaning the conviction would not have appeared on his permanent record had he successfully completed terms of his probation. He also could have avoided jail or prison time.

Dempsey, who formerly worked as a correctional officer at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, was charged with bribery after authorities say he was videotaped attempting to sell a cell phone to an inmate for $1,000 on Oct. 15, 2008.

A motion to revoke Dempsey's probation was filed by Allyson Mitchell, prosecutor for the Special Prosecution Unit, after he was charged with assault-family violence in May 2010.

Anderson County authorities arrested Dempsey on the domestic violence charge on May 24, 2010 after he allegedly assaulted his wife, hitting her in the nose and attempting to choke her.