New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker pled “not guilty” to four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm on Monday night.
Additionally, Baker’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, also filed a “motion to travel” on Tuesday, telling the judge that the second-year cornerback required permission “to travel to the State of New Jersey for work purposes,” citing organized team activities, practices and training camp as mandatory.
Of course, some of those are volunteer activities and none are slated to get underway any time soon as New Jersey remains in a state of lock-down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As things sit, the Giants have a tentative training camp start date of July 30, but Baker’s motion specifically noted he would near to travel on July 13, which may factor in a two-week quarantine upon arrival.
“Mr. Baker is an active member of the New York Giants roster, and is required to attend training camp in preparation for the upcoming 2020 NFL season,” the motion read, shared via the New York Daily News. “As an NFL player under contract, Mr. Baker is required to attend All Organized Training Activities and practice sessions in order to be in the condition necessary to participate and all upcoming games for the season.”
Additionally, a judge ruled on Tuesday that Baker does not have to surrender his firearm to Miramar Police, but it will have to be turned over to his legal team.
Meanwhile, Baker’s attorneys reveal their defense on Tuesday, claiming that although the 22-year-old was at the party where illegal gambling had been occurring, he was in the other room playing Madden and took no part in the dice game.
“Far from an individual who’s going somewhere with an alleged intent to rob somebody, an armed robbery, to go there and hook up his ‘Madden’ game, play the game for over an hour and then leave it there and go home,” Patel told the New York Post.
“And this ruckus blows out in another room in this house. He doesn’t have anything to do with the ruckus. He didn’t even see it. The only thing he sees is out of the corner of his eye a table getting flipped over and everybody running, screaming and yelling. And he’s out. Thank God he bounced.”
Patel says they will attempt to pull electronic proof from Baker’s Madden account that shows him logged in that night and during the alleged melee. He also claims to have three additional signed affidavits from independent witnesses that say Baker was not involved.
Finally, Patel said they are working to procure video evidence that disputes the original story given to police that three cars were “pre-positioned” for a getaway, noting that Baker was actually a passenger in one of the cars and that he had a designated driver — a driver who calmly waited in line for several minutes as they went through a security checkpoint.
“You’re robbed at armed gunpoint and you’re gonna wait two hours to call the police?” Patel said. “It’s a shame the kid’s life is ruined at this point in time and he’s got to fight his way out of this. But it just gets worse and worse and worse, this whole story. It’s disgusting.
“They want to completely dramatize this thing by saying he had a gun on him. Unfortunately, he’s the target man there. He’s the scapegoat. He’s the most famous, successful person at the party. So that’s the guy you’re going to finger because we can get the most money from him if we charge him.”
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