Cicero teacher who killed his in-law pleads guilty to manslaughter - syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y. -- A former Cicero teacher who had admitted to killing his brother-in-law but said it was in self-defense on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a reduced manslaughter charge.
James Ball was facing a second-degree murder charge and a first-degree manslaughter charge that stemmed from the July 4, 2017 shooting of Christopher Ross.
The Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the murder charge against Ball and reduce the first-degree manslaughter degree to second-degree manslaughter.
Onondaga County Court judge Thomas J. Miller will now decide Ball’s sentence. Because of the dismissal and reduction, Ball could face a sentence of anywhere from probation to 3 to 9 years in state prison.
He previously faced 25 years to life in jail had he been convicted.
“I hope they can heal,” Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said of Ball’s family after Ball pleaded guilty.
“These are the cases that try men’s souls,” he later added.
Fitzpatrick and Ball’s defense lawyer Michael Spano said the plea deal started coming together on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning, Spano, Fitzpatrick, Miller and several other prosecutors and lawyers discussed the possible deal.
After a brief conversation between Spano and Ball in a room just outside the courtroom, Ball pleaded guilty.
Ball has been free on $150,000 bail since he was originally indicted in January 2018.
From the time of his indictment, Ball argued he acted in self-defense inside of his Chinkapin Circle residence in Clay. Ross refused to leave during a physical fight that spilled outside from the basement.
Ball left the fight to retrieve a .22-caliber rifle from an upstairs bedroom, loaded it, told his daughter that he was going to kill Ross, then began walking down the stairs when he shot Ross numerous times to death, according to prosecutors.
In 2019, a state appellate court ruled that Ball could make a self-defense claim if the the case went to trial.
Ball will reappear in court on March 25. At that time, Spano and Fitzpatrick will arguments make to Miller about Ball’s sentence.
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source: https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2021/12/cicero-teacher-who-admitted-to-killing-in-law-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter.html
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