A Melbourne man convicted of murder more than a decade ago is launching a new appeal, arguing that a co-accused who was acquitted was responsible for the death and has confirmed he was not involved.
Khalid Baker’s lawyers will argue this week that fresh and compelling evidence shows he has been the victim of a substantial miscarriage of justice and his conviction must be overturned.
In 2005, Baker, 18, was at a party in a converted warehouse when an altercation occurred. During the altercation, a man named Albert Snowball toppled through a window and fell more than five metres to the ground. He died two days later in hospital.
Baker and a co-accused, who was 17 at the time and cannot be named but is known as LM, were alleged to have attacked Snowball, punching and pushing him until he was forced backwards through the window.
Baker was convicted of Snowball’s murder in 2008, and sentenced to 17 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 12 years.
Subsequent appeals to the Victorian court of appeal and the high court were unsuccessful, as was a petition for mercy to the state attorney general. Baker spent 13 years in prison but was released in 2018.
Lawyers for Baker will this week front a new application for leave to appeal in the Victorian court of appeal, arguing that fresh and compelling evidence exists in the case.
It is expected the appeal will focus on the evidence of LM and two new witnesses. LM has provided a sworn affidavit clearing Baker of any involvement in the death and confirming he was nowhere near the window when Snowball fell.
According to the new witnesses, LM gave them a similar account of the altercation, clearing Baker of any involvement in the death, in the weeks immediately after it occurred.
The new witnesses are a father and son who have known LM and Baker for more than two decades.
Neither LM nor Baker gave evidence at trial. The only evidence was the eyewitness accounts of other people at the party.
Admissions of guilt made by LM prior to the trial were ruled inadmissible, a claim upheld by the high court. Changes to the Evidence Act since this ruling means it is likely they would now be admissible.
The crown is expected to oppose Baker’s appeal, arguing that while the evidence is new, it all relates to accounts given by LM, who they claim is unreliable.
Media reporting on the case since Baker’s release is expected to feature heavily in the appeal.
In 2018, LM told the ABC “it should have been me” who went to jail in relation to Snowball’s death, not Baker.
“Do I feel that I murdered him? No, I don’t feel that. Was it an accident? 100%,” LM said.
“It was not Khalid that did it; 100% it was not him.”
The following year, LM told 60 Minutes: “I feel responsible for it, definitely. I was the last person that was fighting him.”
LM also said during the same interview that he had turned to drugs since the death, which the crown is expected to argue goes to his reliability as a witness.
Baker, a promising boxer at the time of the death, has since resumed his career, remaining undefeated in eight fights after winning his most recent bout last month.
Baker’s application is one of only a handful made under Victorian right to appeal laws, which were introduced in 2019 to provide a further path for convictions to be overturned in cases involving a substantial miscarriage of justice. Under previous laws, once all rights of appeal had been exhausted, a petition for mercy had to be filed to the state’s attorney general.
