Port Angeles: Defense argues that state has no evidence in cocaine trafficking case

PORT ANGELES — The second day of testimony in the trial of an accused Sequim drug dealer continued Thursday in Clallam County Superior Court, with more witnesses saying Douglas Eugene Baker supplied them with cocaine.

But as the prosecution argued Baker, 50, sold cocaine again and again through his state-licensed business, Hardrock Trucking Inc., the defense attorney contended the state has no proof the substance was cocaine.

“The state has no drug,” Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger said again Thursday as she addressed Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Thomas Majhan outside the presence of the jury.

Baker is charged with 14 counts of cocaine delivery, 14 counts of money laundering and one count of cocaine possession stemming from an Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team investigation that culminated in a raid of Baker’s 166 Old Dad’s Road home in March 2002.

Baker and his wife, Vernell Frances Baker, 32, were arrested following the raid and released on their own recognizance.

A 12-person jury and two alternates were selected Tuesday to hear Baker’s trial, which is expected to end next week.

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