Jurors consider fate of woman accused of arson and attempted murder

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A jury will decide the fate of a woman prosecutors say was at the scene of an arson and attempted murder May 24, 2014.

Defense attorney Walter Madison argued prosecutors failed to prove Nahdia Baker, 30, of Stone Mountain, Ga., was involved with an East Side drug ring responsible for several murders.

“Because Nahdia Baker knows a guy, she’s getting indicted for things that go back to 2010, for things that she doesn’t even know about,” he said.

Baker faces several charges stemming from the arson and attempted murder.

Five others involved in the ring have been convicted and are serving lengthy prison sentences.

Madison also criticized the indictment on a charge of engaging in a corrupt activity because the arson and attempted murder took place on the same day.

“How could it be a pattern?” he asked the jury. “It’s one day.”

Assistant county Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said witnesses put Baker at the scene of both the arson and an attempted murder.

Madison suggested prosecutors only indicted Baker because she fell for a man involved in the East Side drug ring.

Cantalamessa disagreed.

“We’re concerned with [Baker] because she started this incident. She started this arson. She started this shooting,” she said.

Jurors received instructions from Judge John M. Durkin and began their deliberations late Friday afternoon.