[K]eith Baird, of Sutton, who was scheduled to go on trial next week for his role in the murder of Mary “Pat” O’Hagan, struck a plea deal with the state on Friday.
In exchange for pleas of no contest to charges of burglary and kidnapping, the state dropped the murder charges against Baird. Baird was sentenced today in Caledonia County Superior Court in St. Johnsbury, to a 15-year to 30-year sentence for the burglary charges. He will be sentenced to an additional 15 to 30 years for the kidnapping charges on May 29. Baird will serve the sentences concurrently.
According to Baird’s sentence calculation notification, issued by the Department of Corrections, Baird could be released in 2029, adding only four more years to the time he was already serving.
Baird is the third and last man to be sentenced for the robbery and murder of the 78-year-old grandmother in her Sheffield home in 2010. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state is dropping the murder charges that had been reinstated by the Vermont Supreme Court in 2016. A Superior Court judge had previously dismissed the charge, ruling that prosecutors could not meet the necessary burden of proof.
According to the Supreme Court decision, Baird, Richard Fletcher and Michael Norrie met on the afternoon of September 10, 2010 to get high on methamphetamine and to come up with a plan to burglarize O’Hagan, for whom they had worked in the past.
They decided on a plan to enter O’Hagan’s house late at night when she would be asleep, using the spare key they knew she kept under a doormat. Baird had said all three should bring guns to the burglary, though only Fletcher was supposed to have a loaded gun, according to the Supreme Court decision.
When Norrie and Baird entered the house, they found O’Hagan still awake. Norrie held a handgun to O’Hagen’s head, while the two others searched her house for pills and money. According to the Supreme Court decision, Fletcher and Baird heard two gunshots fired in the kitchen and returned to find O’Hagan on the floor with a wound to the back of her head and Norrie standing over her, gun in hand.
Fletcher retrieved his shotgun from his truck. In the course of a struggle with Norrie, in an attempt to get his handgun, the shotgun fired at the kitchen ceiling. Fletcher and Baird hid O’Hagan’s body at a site in Wheelcock where it was later found.
Fletcher pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and burglary in 2015. Norrie pleaded guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and burglary later that year.
Baird also pleaded guilty on Friday to five counts of violating the conditions of his release. The violations were the result of contact with witnesses, according to Caledonia County State’s Attorney Lisa Warren, who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the state. The state is dropping the remaining 25 violations of release conditions as part of the plea deal.
Warren said in an interview Friday that the kidnapping sentencing was delayed until May 29 in order to afford members of the O’Hagan family who could not be present at the plea hearing the opportunity to speak before the court.
According to the sentencing argument, the O’Hagan family does not support Baird’s sentences.
Baird has been incarcerated since 2014 for the unrelated charge of violating an abuse prevention order by calling his ex-girlfriend from prison.
Warren said that by accepting the plea deal, Baird would waive his right to an appeal, providing “some finality at least with regards to the judicial system.” Warren explained in the settlement argument that another reason she agreed to the plea deal was that Norrie had already admitting to killing O’Hagan.
“With any trial, there’s always a risk of what could the jury do,” Warren said.
