USENET story writer freed on bail

by Tina Lam

Detroit Free Press

DETROIT (March 11) - Jake Baker, the 20-year-old student accused of posting a rape and torture fantasy on the Internet, was freed on March 10 by a federal judge after spending 29 days in jail.

"I'm sorry to have used a real person's name in the stories," he said as he left the court. "I've had 29 days to rethink that and it's not going to happen again. I was thinking what a stupid person I was for doing what I did."

Baker, whose jailing has stirred debate in cyberspace and beyond, said being behind bars was tough. "It wasn't college," he said. "It definitely was not what I was used to - different people. I felt out of place."

Baker's attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, said he plans to file a motion to have the case dismissed. Baker is charged with interstate transmission of a threat for authoring a fictional tale of rape and torture on the Internet, a worldwide computer network.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, who has supported free speech during his career, ordered Baker released on $10,000 personal bond after a psychologist said Baker didn't appear to be a danger. Cohn told him to live with his mother in Ohio, and stay away from Ann Arbor and the woman he wrote about. He also must get counseling.

Vilma Baker, Jake's mother, and stepfather Don Hutchison cried and hugged him after the judge set him free. Baker appeared to cry, too, as he and his mother stood facing each other, holding hands.

"I'm a happy person today," Vilma Baker said as the family left the courthouse in Detroit. "Judge Cohn is a voice of wisdom." An English teacher in Boardman, Ohio, she has said her son's stories were harmless.

In his ruling, Cohn said Baker could not post anything on the Internet. But Cohn said Baker could take information from the network. "There would be information on the Internet he might want to use to suggest parallels to his own case," Cohn said.

Baker posted his story in a newsgroup called "alt.sex.stories," which features graphic, and sometimes violent, fantasies.

He was charged Feb. 9 because he named a classmate in the story. Prosecutors and women's groups said he should be held without bond to keep him from raping or torturing women. He has been suspended from the University of Michigan, where he was a sophomore.

After hearing a report from psychologist Harold Sommerschield, who evaluated Baker under a court order this week, the judge concluded that Baker would not harm anyone if freed. "He does not appear to be a person who will act out his fantasies," Cohn read from the report. The report said Baker is not mentally ill and not psychotic.

The day after his arrest, a federal magistrate and a district judge both ruled that Baker be held until trial because he might harm women. Mullkoff appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said if there were new factors, a judge could reconsider bond. Prosecutors agreed to allow a new psychological evaluation. Mullkoff said he expects Cohn to dismiss the case.

"This is a case involving free speech, freedom of expression and the use of speech on the Internet," he said. Baker faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

vern@cybertoday.com