Trial of Alleged Murderer of SF Gay Man Continues

Jurors in the trial of a man accused of stabbing and beating to death his older gay roommate in 2011 heard testimony this week related to whether the victim had raped the defendant, as the defense claims.

Waheed Kesmatyer, 28, is charged with murder in the death of Nob Hill resident Jack Baker, 67, whose nearly decapitated body was found February 11, 2011 in his apartment at 1035 Bush Street.

Kesmatyer's parents have been a virtually constant presence in the courtroom. At one point, his mother wept as photographs police took of her thin, hunched over son around the time of his arrest.

In his opening statements February 23, Deputy Public Defender Hadi Razzaq said that Kesmatyer, who's straight, had woken up to Baker raping him the night Kesmatyer killed him. Baker had then held up a knife to Kesmatyer in the kitchen and cut him, beginning the struggle that led to Baker's death, Razzaq said.

Through many of the witnesses she presented, Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia worked to dispute the claim that Baker, who was 5 feet 5 inches tall, had raped the younger, taller Kesmatyer.

Craig Riedel, 57, a friend of Baker's, testified that when he'd last seen Baker a week before his body was found, Baker "just wasn't moving as well" as he used to, and had "kind of hobbled a little."

But responding to questions from Razzaq Tuesday, Riedel said that despite bemoaning the uphill walk to his Nob Hill apartment from Hayes Valley, Baker had rejected the idea of taking a bus or cab and had walked home.

Joseph Del Barba, who'd been Baker's supervisor at Macy's department store, had told Garcia that shortly before his death, Baker had fallen from a ladder and hurt his hip or back.

Tuesday, however, Del Barba testified under cross-examination by Razzaq that he hadn't seen the accident. He also said that Baker had still been able to carry mannequins that weighed about 50 pounds, among other duties.

Photos of Baker's badly decomposed body were displayed in court last week, showing an electrical cord still knotted around his neck and several stab wounds in his head and back.

Garcia also brought in police criminalist Kimberly Wong, who testified Tuesday about testing results of DNA from swabs of Baker's penis and scrotum and cuts of the underwear that he'd been wearing when his body was found.

The swabs from Baker's penis and scrotum showed DNA from materials that included sperm cells that matched Baker, but not Kesmatyer, according to Wong.

She testified that some of the underwear samples showed a "mixture of DNA" that included sperm, with testing showing Baker as a "possible contributor" to the "major contributor" of the material. However, in some cases related to the minor contributor, there wasn't enough genetic material to determine conclusively whether Kesmatyer was a match.

Wong said there were many reasons people's DNA could be mixed together, including laundry habits.

Razzaq was expected to cross-examine Wong Wednesday morning, March 11, just before the Bay Area Reporter went to press.

Images displayed during the trial, which is expected to conclude in early April, have shown blood throughout much of Baker's apartment, including the ceiling of the dining room, where Baker's body was found beneath a large number of decorative items; the kitchen; bathroom; and Kesmatyer's bedroom.

Garcia has said Kesmatyer "was the sole source of DNA" connected with "many of the blood stains" found in the apartment.

This week, Garcia brought in a witness who disputed the notion that there had been an altercation in Baker's kitchen.

Monday, March 9, Michael Gaynor, a former police inspector and an expert in blood stain pattern analysis, said that based on the blood stain patterns, and since nothing in the kitchen had been knocked over, "I don't believe there was a struggle inside the kitchen," and the only room where there had been a fight was the adjacent dining room.

Gaynor said that he'd reviewed photos and reports associated with the case and had gone to Baker's apartment about two months after his body was found.

Razzaq has said that before Baker's death, Kesmatyer, who's been in custody since his arrest in February 2011, had suffered molestation and other trauma in his life.