Judge orders mental exam of ex-York cop charged in wife’s death

The former York police officer charged with the brutal beating death of his wife before Christmas in 2016 will remain in jail without bond at least until he can have a mental evaluation.

James Harold “Jamie” Baldwin Jr., 59, a former officer at the York Police Department, was called a “cold-hearted monster” and a “manipulative brainwashing character” in court by a son of Judy Baldwin, James Baldwin’s wife.

James Baldwin is accused of beating Judy Baldwin to death then trying to hide the crime by staging a car crash where his wife was ejected and was found dead in a creek, prosecutors say.

Police and prosecutors, along with Judy Baldwin’s family, say James Baldwin faked the crash to cover up the killing.

“My mother fell victim to this evil, manipulative con man James Baldwin,” said Chris Orr, one of Judy Baldwin’s two sons from a previous marriage.

James Baldwin was indicted on murder in August after an 18-month investigation into the death of Judy Baldwin. The Herald was the first media outlet to report that James Baldwin had been arrested.

James Baldwin has been in jail in Chester without bond since his Aug. 14 arrest. He was in court Thursday in Lancaster for a bond hearing. The court was packed with more than 40 people supporting Judy Baldwin’s family. Another son, Josh Orr, said he fears James Baldwin would seek violence against other family members if released from jail on bond before a trial.

“James Baldwin is a selfish, greedy, cold-hearted narcissist,” Josh Orr said. “If he is released, our family could be his next victims.”

Prosecutors say James Baldwin ran his car into a Chester County bridge in December 2016 then told police his wife was hurt in the crash. Baldwin said then he was rushing his wife to the hospital after she fell from a ladder while hanging Christmas lights.

Baldwin screamed to police “Help my wife!” at the crash scene, but police and prosecutors now say she was already dead.

Judy Baldwin had several head injuries including a fractured skull and several gashes that are not consistent with a fall, said 6th Circuit Solicitor Candice Lively.

Lively said James Baldwin is a flight risk and danger to the community if released on bond because of the violence of the crime, the fear of survivors of more violence, and his decades of law enforcement experience.

“He knows how the system works,” Lively said.

Baldwin worked at the York Police Department from 1992 to 1994. Baldwin was a police officer for the city of Columbia police department from 1994 to 1996. He then worked as a dispatcher for Chester County from 1998 to 2007, S.C. Criminal Justice Academy records show.

Baldwin also has pending arson and insurance fraud charges from a 2017 arrest in York where he is accused of torching a roommate’s trailer then taking thousands in insurance money after the fire. Baldwin was out on bond for those charges when he was charged in his wife’s death.

Kay Boulware of the 6th Circuit public defender’s office, said James Baldwin is not a threat to anyone and never fled as police investigated the death for 18 months. Boulware said Baldwin suffered a head injury in a motorcycle crash earlier in 2017.

“It took until he was 59 years old for him to be a threat to society?” Boulware said.

Baldwin’s daughter and sister said he is falsely charged.

James Baldwin “would never harm anybody,” his daughter Jessica Moss said.

Baldwin did not speak in court Thursday.

Judge Paul Burch denied bond to Baldwin, but ordered a mental evaluation following court testimony Baldwin had suffered a head injury in a 2017 motorcycle crash.