Baker Arraignment Delayed

Former Irvine City Councilman C. David Baker, charged with forging the signature of an Orange County Superior Court judge, won a postponement of his case Friday.

Baker, 35, had been scheduled to enter a plea. But his attorney, Paul S. Meyer, said he first wanted to discuss with Superior Court Judge Myron Brown, who is expected to eventually hear the case, what type of sentence his client might receive if he pleads guilty. Brown was out of town on business Friday, and the arraignment was continued to next Thursday.

Last month, Baker was charged with forging the judge’s signature on a $48,000 check written on the account of a local nonprofit foundation that Baker headed at the time. Baker has admitted he wrote the check to himself in the final days of his unsuccessful bid in the June 7 primary for the Republican nomination in the 40th Congressional District.

When Baker was charged in August, Meyer asked that a probation report be prepared on his client. That report has been completed, Meyer said, and “is quite favorable, as one might expect of a man of Dave Baker’s stature.” Neither Meyer nor the district attorney’s office would discuss specifics of the report.

Baker, making a rare public appearance in court Friday, declined to answer most questions by reporters. The former UC Irvine basketball star has resigned from his law firm and moved his family from Irvine to Tustin. When asked what he has been doing in recent weeks, Baker replied, “I’ve been focusing completely on this case.”