By Billy Davis

When Circuit Judge Andrew C. Baker hangs up his robe by New Year’s Day, he hopes to leave behind a “good, workable system” in Mississippi’s 17th District.

Those familiar with the district say he has done just that.

“He is the epitome of a true public servant,” said Mississippi Supreme Court Justice George C. Carlson, who worked alongside Baker as the district’s second circuit judge.

When Baker took office in January 1979, he “inherited an enormous backlog of cases,” said Carlson, who took office in 1983.

With help from a second judge, Baker and Carlson worked their way through a backlog of criminal and civil cases, with little clerical help to organize the system, Carlson remembered. That would eventually change, too, due to Baker’s leadership.

“I can tell you he built up the office of the public defender,” recalled David Walker, a Batesville attorney and longtime pubic defender in the district.

Walker said Baker’s attention to the court system hasn’t waned. He pointed to the October 1 appointment of a second public defender in Tate County, crediting Baker for lobbying for the new position.  

Baker, 74, is set retire before the year flips to 2011. He has amassed 32 ½ years in the circuit court system after first winning election in June 1978.

He has sought re-election eight times and has never seen an opponent, even on whim, jump into a race to unseat him.  

“If the other lawyers leave you alone, you must be doing a good job,” Baker said this week, seated at his desk in the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Charleston.

Indeed. A parade of attorneys and other well wishers praised the retiring judge at a ceremony held Monday at the Panola County courthouse in Batesville.

“In his own way, he made us all better lawyers and better judges,” Ann Lamar, a second Supreme Court justice, told the gathered crowd.

Lamar had also served as a circuit judge in the 17th District, where she observed Baker’s practice of treating attorneys and their clients with respect.

When Baker began his first term, “there were no rules,” said Robert Kelly, the now-retired assistant district attorney for the 17th District.

“Everything that’s been done since 1978, it’s been influenced by Andrew C. Baker,” said Kelly.

Baker inherited the 17th District from Judge Dick R. Thomas, who was ill for some time, causing a backlog in criminal and civil cases, Carlson told The Panolian.

But the main culprit was the state legislature, which at the time set the terms of court, and the location to hold court, for circuit court judges.

“It was a very clumsy, antiquated system,” recalled Baker, who said he had lobbied, unsuccessfully, for legislators to add more court time during the year.  

Mississippi law prohibited judges from working past the set dates, so Baker worked six days a week, late into the night, to try to keep up, Carlson said.   

With so many cases in front of him, the most heinous crimes — murder and robbery, and rape and kidnapping — automatically moved up the court docket. Burglaries, forgeries and other cases languished farther down the list.

It didn’t have to be that way. The state legislature turned down several efforts to create a second judgeship. The legislature agreed to that plan in 1982 and Carlson, in a three-way race, won the newly created seat.

“I know Judge Baker was instrumental in asking the legislature to add that second judge,” recalled Walker, the public defender.

Carlson remembers that as well, saying Baker was known for picking up the phone to tell a legislator, or a governor, about the latest need in the 17th District.  

The supreme court justice credited Baker for helping judges across the state wrest control of the circuit court system from the state legislature.

Carlson also credited Baker for creating the position of court administrator in 1989. Until then, judges had relied on the circuit clerk and court reporter to organize and schedule court proceedings.

Carlson, speaking at the reception, said he and Baker signed the order and awaited a backlash from the five counties. But none came — “and that was because of Judge Baker’s leadership,” he said.  

The Mississippi legislature also created the Administrative Office of Courts, and judges were allowed to hire law clerks to assist them at about the same time. A third judgeship was added in 1994.

Each accomplishment shaped the 17th District into a better-run court system, Carlson said, and behind the scenes Judge Baker continued to guide with wisdom and foresight.

He showed that same demeanor on the bench.

“One cannot put a label on Judge Baker as far as judicial leanings and prejudices,” Carlson told The Panolian.

DeSoto County attorney Randy Garner, speaking at the retirement reception, summed up Baker’s tenure:  “You young judges ought to pattern yourself after Judge Baker or you’ll be booted out of office and not honored out of office.”

Also speaking at the reception were Panola Circuit Clerk Joe Reid and Tallhatchie County Sheriff Bill Brewer. Panola Sheriff Otis Griffin called the event to order.