Worcester County - James Edward Ballard Will Have Retrial

Written by

Brian Shane

SNOW HILL -- A Pocomoke City man convicted last year of murder won his appeal and will have his case retried in Worcester County Circuit Court.

James Edward Ballard, 31, was convicted last spring of second-degree murder in the September 2010 stabbing death of 18-year-old Russell Matthew Bailey III.

Police said the men knew each other and were involved in an ongoing neighborhood squabble. Ballard had been harassed earlier that day by the victim and his friends, which included allegations of rock-throwing, in the area of Pocomoke Middle School.

According to court testimony, Ballard and Bailey ran into each other immediately after that confrontation. Ballard eventually chased after Bailey, who slipped and fell. It was then that Ballard allegedly stabbed Bailey in the chest, police said.

Police had originally charged Ballard with first-degree murder, a charge that implies premeditation. Ballard had told police he was defending himself.

The case went to trial. In any jury trial, the judge gives the jury specific instructions as to what they may or may not consider when deliberating a verdict.

During Ballard's trial in April 2011, his attorney asked the judge to consider a specific jury instruction: That jurors should view Ballard's act of stabbing as a form of hot-blooded self-defense rather than premeditated murder.

Judge Thomas Groton denied that request by public defender Burton Anderson. Ballard went on to be convicted.

However, Ballard appealed, saying his case should have included the jury instruction on what's known as an imperfect self-defense.
Perfect self-defense, legally speaking, means a person would have not done anything wrong while using an act of deadly force to defend his or her own life. Imperfect self-defense means the accused may have been in the wrong in some way.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed with that public defender that the jury instructions should have been read and overturned Ballard's conviction.

The court's May 9 opinion also notes that imperfect self-defense may mitigate a charge of premeditated murder to voluntary manslaughter.

Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby tried that case, and he said he plans to retry Ballard using the same evidence as before. He also said there's no telling whether that specific instruction from the judge to jury would have changed any jurors' minds.

A retrial date has not yet been set, but it's likely to be scheduled for later this year, according to Oglesby's office.

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