The first man found guilty in Anne Arundel County of manslaughter in connection to drug dealing is hoping to vacate his 2019 conviction and restart his case.

Should Jason Patton Baker succeed, he may get a new trial or a belated chance to accept a plea deal. But because the decision would effectively revoke all court proceedings involving Baker to this point, he could receive a more severe punishment than his current 15-year sentence. He also may not receive credit for his time in prison.

In a Sept. 9 hearing before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Mark Crooks, Baker argued he would have avoided trial and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2019 if he had known the crux of his defense — that 16-year-old Josiah Klaes committed suicide by overdosing on fentanyl — would be barred from the record.

Public defenders Denis O’Connell and Elizabeth Connell had prepared a case with expert witnesses suggesting the teenager’s depression led him to escape reality by using drugs be bought from Baker.

They contended when Klaes died on Jan. 19, 2018, detectives had not done enough to investigate suicide as a possibility.

Among the items in his room were empty bottles of prescription medication, a crushed antidepressant tablet and a straw that appeared to have a white powdery residue.

The defense also said police should have better scrutinized Klaes’ access to opioids in his Glen Burnie home.

At the time of Baker’s conviction, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess described the argument as “phony” and “speculative,” and said Baker’s “greed and his lack of humanity … [were] beyond disturbing.”

In court earlier this month, O’Connell said Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Donna Schaeffer’s decision to block the suicide theory was catastrophic to his client’s case.

“It was devastating,” the public defender said. “Absolutely devastating.”

In the course of a week-long trial, prosecutors outlined a transactional relationship between the teenager and the now 51-year-old Baker.

Thousands of pages of text messages from Klaes’ phone showed him arrange at least 60 drug transactions with Baker, and though it began with marijuana, Klaes’ final purchase was $20 worth of heroin laced with fentanyl.

A jury found Baker guilty of involuntary manslaughter, fentanyl distribution, reckless endangerment, and possession of and possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl.

Baker’s was the first manslaughter conviction in Anne Arundel County involving a fatal overdose, coming months after the state’s highest court upheld a similar conviction in Worcester County. The precedent established in that case led Maryland’s top attorneys, including then-Attorney General Brian Frosh, to explore the felony charge as a way of combatting drug dealing.

Criminal justice advocates, including leaders within the Maryland Public Defender’s Office, argued at the time that manslaughter charges wouldn’t deter drug dealing, but would deter people from reporting overdoses out of fear of punishment.

Nearly 1,900 people died from fentanyl use in Maryland in 2018, the year Klaes overdosed. As of Thursday, 1,545 people have died from fentanyl overdoses in the last 12 months, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

Maryland’s Good Samaritan Law protects anyone who reports a medical emergency involving drugs or alcohol from arrest and prosecution. However, it does not shield those who witness the emergency and don’t help.

Earlier this month, Baker testified he was concerned and frustrated after his team’s suicide theory was blocked. He said if he knew his “hands were tied,” he would have moved forward with the plea, which O’Connell believed would have always included involuntary manslaughter.

Baker testified that after the judge’s decision, he was told the plea was no longer an option and that the case would go to trial.

On the stand, O’Connell told Baker’s attorney, James Nichols, he could not recall being asked to reconsider the plea bargain.

He also could not remember telling Baker the plea was no longer valid, saying in his experience with Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Steinhardt, who prosecuted the 2019 case, the state had been open to resolving cases at different points in the judicial process.

O’Connell said after Schaeffer’s decision, the defense was in “panic mode” to produce a new argument. Nichols, who declined to comment Thursday, said the public defender not remembering his conversations with Baker was “consistent with human nature” for someone under that amount of stress.

Assistant State’s Attorney David Russell, who was not involved with the initial trial, argued if a panicking attorney was “given an out” through a plea, they would pursue it.

Baker is awaiting a written opinion from Crooks. It was not clear Thursday when the judge’s opinion will be issued.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.