A jury in a state district court in Tarrant County this week found a 22-year-old man guilty of murder in a 2023 killing in east Fort Worth.
Antonio Baker was on Thursday convicted in the death of Deandre Dotson, whom Baker shot to death from the backseat of a vehicle, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
Baker chose to have a judge, rather than the jury, assess his punishment. Judge William Knight, who presides in Criminal District Court No. 2, on Friday sentenced Baker to 80 years in prison. Baker will become eligible for parole after he serves 40 years. Knight considered a punishment range of five to 99 years, or life.
Early on Dec. 31, 2023, Baker was among a group of people who were in a moving vehicle when Baker fired upon a passing car in the 5700 block of Eastland Street, according to the district attorney’s office.
Baker’s bullets struck Dotson, who was driving the passing car. He was 34. Dotson was taken to a hospital and died about nine hours after he was shot.
Dotson’s death was caused by a gunshot wound of the head, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The court’s charge, or written jury instructions, indicates that Baker testified in the trial’s guilt-innocence phase and that the jury was not directed to consider lesser-included offenses.
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