(December 18, 2008)-- A decision on a motion seeking dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit that accuses former Central Texas pastor Matt Baker of killing his wife is on hold after a hearing Thursday.

On Thursday, 19th District Judge Ralph Strother declined to rule on the summary judgment motion filed by Baker's lawyer, seeking to have the suit dismissed, but instead issued a continuance in the civil suit, pushing back the original April trial date.

The continuance comes after Baker's attorney Richard Ellison said he wanted to challenge the testimony of all but one of the expert witnesses used by the family of Baker’s late wife, Kari.

Strother told attorneys for both sides that he was pushing for a July or early fall trial date.

Baker was arrested in September 2007 and charged in the death of his 31-year-old wife, but the charge was dropped in March.

McLennan County Justice of the Peace Billy Martin signed the dismissal order at the request of Baker’s attorney because the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office had not sought an indictment within the required 180 days of Baker’s arrest.

Kari Baker died in April 2006 in the couple’s Hewitt home.

The affidavit filed in support of the 2007 arrest warrant alleged Baker slipped his wife crushed sleeping pills, and then suffocated her after she lost consciousness.

Kari Baker’s parents, who dropped their original wrongful death suit against their daughter’s husband in October 2007, filed a new suit in March on behalf of Kari Baker’s mother, Linda Dulin.

In the motion seeking dismissal of the suit, however, Baker’s attorney cites a sworn affidavit in which Baker says, “I did not assault my wife. I did not cause my wife’s death. I did not poison her. I did not give her medications and I did not smother her” and statements by Kari Baker’s parents during sworn depositions that they don’t have evidence of Matt Baker’s guilt,

That evidence, the motion says, proves Baker “did not cause his wife’s death.”

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