Special prosecutor says Baker cleared of charges

ATLANTA - A special prosecutor told the governor Friday he found no evidence to support charges that Attorney General Thurbert Baker destroyed parole board records or took money for helping a prisoner, as the lawyer for an indicted legislator charged. <br> <br> Pete Skandalakis, the district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, said a former employee of Baker&#39;s, Sam Tillman, will be charged with destroying state records, a felony. But Tillman acted alone and without instructions from anyone, the prosecutor said. <br> <br> While Baker was a state legislator, he advised the father of a client to have his attorney contact the Board of Pardons and Paroles about an educational reprieve for his son, Skandalakis said. <br> <br> However, the prosecutor said he found no link between that and a contribution to Baker from the father&#39;s business because the money came two years after the clemency board rejected the father&#39;s request. <br> <br> ``In conclusion, there is no evidence to indicate that Thurbert Baker acted improperly, interceded on behalf of, solicited or accepted contributions to intercede on behalf of the inmate in question,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Gov. Roy Barnes appointed the special prosecutor in June amid a broadening ethics investigation of the parole board, which resulted in the resignations of two members who were under investigation over allegations they accepted money to lobby legislators for a company that supervises probationers. <br> <br> Baker had been handling the investigation, but recused himself after being accused of helping prisoners for money. <br> <br> The charges were raised by the attorney for Sen. Van Streat, who faces charges he took a campaign contribution in exchange for helping a convicted murderer get moved to a less secure prison. <br> <br> When the attorney claimed Baker had done the same thing, the attorney general recused himself and Skandalakis was named both to prosecute Streat and to investigate the charges against Baker.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/9/190135