{"id":15972,"date":"2016-01-27T21:10:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=15972"},"modified":"2016-01-27T21:10:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:10:26","slug":"ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/01\/27\/ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Ball sentenced in mother\u2019s murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"BENJAMIN<\/a>

BENJAMIN BALL<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a drug-filled rage that led a New Milford man to strangle his mother to death, and then hide her body in a padlocked trunk last year, according to testimony presented in a Thursday morning sentencing hearing in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Ball, 27, will serve 16-36 years in state prison for the strangulation death of his mother, Lisa Ball, in January 2015. He pleaded guilty in December to a count of third degree murder. Ball has been held in the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility since his arrest.<\/p>\n

Susquehanna County Senior Judge Kenneth Seamans took Ball\u2019s drug use, his cooperation with law enforcement since his arrest, and his willingness to plead guilty in the case into consideration when sentencing the man to a prison-term just short of the maximum 20-40 years.<\/p>\n

Judge Seamans said he found the case disturbing. \u201cThis was your mother,\u201d he said to Ball. \u201cThe only thing worse than killing a parent is killing your own child.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge called the murder a \u201chorrendous act\u201d and said that other considerations and Ball\u2019s drug issues were \u201cmitigating to some degree but not an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a witness for Ball, defense attorney Paul Ackourey called on a psychologist to offer expert testimony.<\/p>\n

Kingston psychologist Ned Delaney evaluated Ball during the course of several interviews in September 2015. Delaney said he also reviewed the police affidavit, along with Ball\u2019s criminal history and school records.<\/p>\n

On the stand, Delaney said Ball first began using marijuana on a regular basis while he was in high school; but mainly focused on Ball\u2019s drug use from 2012 until the time of the murder.<\/p>\n

He said Ball would \u201cgo on a run\u201d for 15 to 20 days, using methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana and then take Xanax, a prescription drug typically used to treat anxiety disorders, in order to sleep and \u201ccome down from a run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball would also \u201cstash\u201d methamphetamines to use in order to avoid getting \u201cdope sick.\u201d He would recover, and then repeat the pattern, the psychologist told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became the focal point of his life,\u201d Delaney said. \u201cGetting product, getting high, and doing it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the week leading up to his mother\u2019s murder, Ball had been using drugs \u2013 using about 20 bags of heroin, along with methamphetamine and Xanax. He returned to the home he shared with his mother in New Milford Borough to change his clothes and to get access to his drug stash, according to court testimony.<\/p>\n

Delaney told the court that due to the drug use and a \u201cheightened emotional state\u201d – caused by a fight between him and his mother the morning of the murder -Ball\u2019s ability to think clearly about his actions was compromised.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Robert Klein disagreed. \u201cHow do you reconcile that with him concealing her body?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

In closing, Ackourey admitted that Ball and his mother had a contentious relationship. \u201cDrug addiction played a central role,\u201d he said, noting his client\u2019s criminal history reflected years of drug problems.<\/p>\n

Ackourey added that he felt the pre-sentencing report presented to the court did not accurately show Ball\u2019s level of remorse. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t show emotion easily,\u201d the defense attorney explained.<\/p>\n

Klein said, \u201cHe choked his mother. She came to. He choked her again and wound up stuffing her in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district attorney also said that the pre-sentence report was done long after Ball had been using any drugs. Klein said that in the report Ball did not show remorse when he stated that his mother repeatedly \u201charassed\u201d him and that \u201cwhat happened was a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON It was a drug-filled rage that led a New Milford man to strangle his mother to death, and then hide her body…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBall sentenced in mother\u2019s murder - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/01\/27\/ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ball sentenced in mother\u2019s murder - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY STACI WILSON It was a drug-filled rage that led a New Milford man to strangle his mother to death, and then hide her body...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/01\/27\/ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-27T21:10:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/WGSI_BenjaminBall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"205\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"266\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/01\/27\/ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/01\/27\/ball-sentenced-in-mothers-murder\/\",\"name\":\"Ball sentenced in mother\u2019s murder - 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