‘I’m just glad it’s over’

Pharmacist William L. Baker lost his freedom, his savings and his wife after a Wyoming federal judge sentenced him in 1980 to two years in prison for improperly refilling prescriptions, an early battle in the controversial “war on drugs.”

On March 25, his past flashed back as Baker – a Spokane attorney since 1988 – was pardoned by President Bush.

Baker’s was one of 15 pardons the White House granted that day. Bush has issued 157 pardons and six commutations, including the sentence of former White House adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

“I feel good. I’m just glad it’s over,” said Baker, 69. “I was 41 when this happened.”

Although he already has largely rebuilt his life, the presidential pardon represents the final piece of recognition Baker had sought for what he and others consider the overzealous prosecution of a previously common pharmaceutical practice: refilling prescriptions for regular customers without first contacting the prescribing physician.

The Spokane attorney said he used to be bitter about his prison sentence, which impoverished his family, ruined his pharmacy career and ostracized his two teenage sons in the small town of Rock Springs, Wyo. But he says he’s moved beyond that now.

One thing he would change: Bush didn’t personally sign his pardon.

Baker’s story – supported by public records – was described by other members of Spokane’s legal community who rallied to help him as he left prison, applied to Gonzaga Law School, passed the bar, persuaded the state bar association to grant him a law license – and applied for a presidential pardon in 2002.

“I admitted him to law school. I thought he deserved a break,” recalled Frank Conklin, the two-time Gonzaga Law School dean and constitutional law professor now in private practice in Spokane.

Conklin said he and a panel of other law professors looked closely into Baker’s case in 1983 before deciding to admit him. They learned Baker had been occasionally refilling prescriptions for pain medication and tranquillizers at a pharmacy in Rock Springs without first contacting the doctors who authorized the original prescriptions.

“The Drug Enforcement Administration came down on him with both feet. It was a technical violation of drug dispensing laws, but he wasn’t selling drugs or anything. He got a raw deal,” Conklin said.

Baker’s case was heard by U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer, of Cheyenne, a Nixon appointee, a former chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party and a hard-liner on drug charges. Brimmer is now a semi-retired senior judge in the same court.

“He came up against a hanging judge. I thought it was very unfair,” Conklin added.

Conklin also represented Baker, a self-described liberal Democrat, before the Washington State Bar Association’s board of governors after Baker passed the bar and submitted to a confidential “character review” investigation to get his law license. He had his voting rights restored by Wyoming’s governor in 1983 and his gun rights restored in 1986. He was admitted to practice law in March 1988, after the Washington Supreme Court gave final approval.

It’s highly unusual for someone convicted of a felony to become a lawyer – let alone to be pardoned by a president – said Terry W. Mackey, the Cheyenne lawyer who represented Baker on the drug charges 28 years ago.

Mackey hadn’t kept in touch with Baker, didn’t know he’d become a lawyer and hadn’t heard about the presidential pardon until contacted last week by a reporter.

“I’m proud of him for pursuing a career. He was a good man and I knew he’d make something of himself. I’m pleased with the pardon,” Mackey said.

During its review for the presidential pardon, the Justice Department sent a letter to the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne late last year asking for comments on Baker’s case, said court spokesman John Powell.

“We didn’t have any comment because nobody here remembered it,” Powell said. Brimmer, the judge who sentenced Baker, also declined comment.

Baker was initially charged with 14 counts of distribution of a controlled substance and false record-keeping at Rock Springs’ Pamida Pharmacy, according to federal court records.

Mackey negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors that dismissed all but three of the counts. The plea bargain was achieved because there were “serious issues” with the government’s case, Mackey recalled.

Before Baker’s sentencing, the late Bishop Lawrence Welsh, of Spokane, wrote to the judge asking for leniency. Welsh was the nephew of Baker’s stepfather, who was Rock Springs’ director of city finance at the time.

In his July 1980 reply to Welsh, Brimmer said he’d known the Baker family for some time, which made sentencing difficult. Brimmer described his judicial philosophy on drugs: “When I first went on the Bench I decided that cases involving illegal sales of drugs would not be treated leniently, and I have attempted to be consistent in sentences so that the drug pusher receives a jail sentence regardless of his high or his low position.”

At sentencing, Brimmer said, ” ‘Your case is a little higher class – but you’re going to prison, too,’ ” Baker recalled.

The pharmacist was sent to a federal prison camp in Boron, Calif., where he spent 17 months, getting out early for good behavior in December 1981.

When he prepared to take the law school admission test in Denver, the course instructor recommended Gonzaga Law School. “I didn’t even know where Spokane was,” Baker said.

After getting his law degree and lawyer’s license, Baker worked for John Cooney & Associates in Spokane for several years before establishing his own practice. He specializes in personal injury, bankruptcy and criminal defense – including defense against drug charges. He also helps felons restore their voting and gun rights.

Baker said he applied for the presidential pardon in 2002 “for the hell of it” through the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. A lengthy FBI investigation ensued – including interviews with Baker’s associates and South Hill neighbors. FBI Agent Bernadette Brown, of the Spokane office, was assigned to the case.

“I never saw her report, but she told me everyone she talked to told her I walk on water,” Baker said with a laugh.

The FBI checked his tax returns, criminal history and credit. In 2006, when he’d heard nothing for months, Baker again wrote to the pardon office, asking if it needed more information. On March 25, Helen M. Bollwerk, the Justice Department’s acting pardon attorney, called Baker to tell him the White House had just issued a press release announcing his pardon. The Justice Department gave no reasons for the pardon in its release, and Baker said he hasn’t been told why he was selected.

In a March 28 letter to Baker, Bollwerk said a presidential pardon is a “sign of forgiveness” that doesn’t erase Baker’s criminal record but restores his civil rights. Since that had already happened in Baker’s case, the pardon has little practical effect.

Brian Dykman, a Spokane attorney who served as one of Baker’s character witnesses during the long process, said Baker deserves the pardon. “He never hid what he got in trouble for. He’s been a productive, decent member of society,” Dykman said.

But there’s an irony in the pardon, said Dykman, who described himself as a “conservative, law-and-order guy” who’s vigorously debated political issues with Baker and considers him a “flaming liberal.”

“Here’s a president granting a pardon to a guy who’s 180 degrees in the other direction. But Bill has paid his debt and deserves this,” Dykman said.

Although he’s grateful for the pardon, Baker agreed he’s no fan of Bush.

“I thought if he were going to pardon me, it would have to be before his last day in office in January 2005,” Baker added. “I never thought the American people would elect that idiot to a second term.”