The man charged with murder in the 2021 death of former Yachats resident Martin Baker will be formally arraigned in June in San Diego North County Superior Court.
Eugene Focarelli, 37, is scheduled to be arraigned June 1 on the murder and other charges related to an alleged assault on Baker, who died a few days after being attacked in February 2021 in Borrego Springs, Calif. Baker was a formerly homeless man who found shelter and friendship through the Yachats Community Presbyterian Church, but had returned in 2020 to his hometown northeast of San Diego.
“The trial date will probably get set on June 1,” said San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Kim Coulter, who is in charge of the case. “At this point, I anticipate that the defense will come to us with an offer … probably manslaughter,” which carries a shorter prison term than homicide, she told Yachats News.
Because Focarelli already has a California burglary conviction, he could face twice the prison time if convicted on any of the several felony charges he’s facing.
“He could do 30 years-to life imprisonment on the murder charge,” said Coulter. “On a manslaughter charge, he could do 22 years to life, plus time on the other charges.”
Those other charges include elder abuse and felony vandalism, all of which stemmed from incidents occurring within a few days of the assault on Baker.
Coulter said she expects that Focarelli’s defense attorney “would try to show that the beat-down didn’t cause the actual death.” Coulter had previously told Yachats News that Focarelli “used his feet and fists” to attack Baker.
Blaming much of the delay in the case on Covid-19 issues, Coulter said it’s not uncommon for a homicide case to take a couple of years to get to trial. She noted that Focarelli has been in custody since his arrest. An attempt to find Baker’s DNA on Focarelli’s clothing “didn’t yield any results,” she said, but investigators “found witnesses who were present” when the attack took place.
