Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal issued a ruling today that keeps Billy Baker behind bars for life. In a decision filed April 8, 2026, the court denied Baker’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, effectively shutting down his claim that his legal representation failed him during his appeal process.
Baker was previously convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his fiancée, Candice Cooper. Following that conviction and a life sentence, Baker had already seen his initial appeals fall short.
In this latest legal move, he argued that his appellate counsel was “ineffective” because they didn’t challenge a specific jury instruction regarding attempted voluntary manslaughter.
The court, however, wasn’t buying it. The three-judge panel, consisting of Chief Judge Scales and Judges Lobree and Gooden, pointed out that the legal precedent Baker was relying on—a case known as State v. Montgomery—had actually been rolled back by the Florida Supreme Court years ago.
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According to the court’s opinion, Baker’s lawyers couldn’t be blamed for skipping an argument that would have been “meritless” under current law.
The court noted that because the Florida Supreme Court had already changed the rules in the 2019 case Knight v. State, any attempt to use the old standard would have been rejected anyway.
“Counsel cannot be deemed deficient for failing to make a meritless argument,” the court stated, citing established Florida case law. The ruling further explained that for a claim of ineffective assistance to work, a petitioner has to show that their lawyer’s mistakes were so big that they “undermined confidence in the fairness and correctness of the appellate result.”
Because the court found that Baker’s legal team didn’t miss anything that actually mattered, his petition was denied. The decision means Baker will continue serving his life sentence for the murder of Cooper. The court also briefly noted it rejected a second argument from Baker without further comment.
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