WACO, Texas (ABP) -- A former Texas Baptist preacher convicted of murdering his wife says he deserves a new trial because his attorneys didn't adequately represent him.

According to the Waco Tribune-Herald and other media reports, Matt Baker filed a two-page motion and affidavit Feb. 22 alleging that two lawyers failed to call expert witnesses on his behalf and did not communicate with him before the trial. Baker also said the attorneys failed to ask key questions during cross-examination of state witnesses.

Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court, who presided over Baker’s trial, set a hearing to consider the motion on April 1.

Baker received a 65-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty Jan. 21 of drugging and smothering his wife, Kari, in 2006 and covering it up by making it look like a suicide. 

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