Just 5 weeks after standing before a Northampton County judge and proclaiming his willingness to accept his death sentence, Ballard now says he is interested in joining a pending lawsuit that could delay his execution indefinitely.
Though he insisted this summer that he is "not afraid to die," Ballard told The Morning Call on Friday that the class action lawsuit's claim - that Pennsylvania's lethal injection method is cruel and unusual punishment - is one that he embraces.
"I have no faith that the Department of Corrections can carry out an execution without [expletive] it up," Ballard said during an exclusive interview inside Northampton County Prison. "And I'm certainly not going to jump to the head of the line and let them guinea pig on me."
The interview, the newspaper's 4th with the 5-time killer, came as Gov. Tom Corbett is expected next week to schedule a date for Ballard's execution, which the death-row inmate has challenged the state to carry out. Ballard was brought to the Easton jail amid that challenge, to allow a psychological work-up to determine whether he is competent to give up his appeals and seek an impending death.
But his desire to be part of a broad challenge to the death penalty could represent a sea-changing development in his case. Pennsylvania hasn't put to death an inmate who fought his execution since 1962, with stays regularly issued to prisoners who have legal questions pending.
District Attorney John Morganelli, who has called Ballard the "poster boy" for the death penalty, said Friday he was not surprised that Ballard is looking for ways to prolong his life.
Morganelli likened Ballard to Martin Appel, who murdered three people during a 1986 bank robbery in East Allen Township, asked the state to put him to death, then ultimately decided to appeal.
"I have no problem with it. I don't care if Mr. Ballard changes his mind," Morganelli said. "Mr. Ballard may have reasons for that. He's of above average intellect and he may have looked at this issue and decided he wants to fight."
"I've been through this before with Appel, so it doesn't surprise me at all," Morganelli added.
Speaking through the bars of a prison cell, corrections guards standing at the ready nearby, Ballard bristled over a reporter's question on whether joining the lawsuit could be seen as a "pretext" as the reality of his death nears.
Ballard, 41, said he makes a distinction between the post-conviction appeals he is seeking to waive and a federal suit questioning the drugs the state uses during executions and the way they are administered.
"Not wanting to be tortured to death? How is that pretextual?" Ballard asked. "Having no faith that the state can get it right with untested drugs?"
But distinction or no, the decision would almost certainly slam the brakes on the prospect that Ballard would be executed any time soon. And the federal suit involves the same attorneys - the Federal Community Defenders Office in Philadelphia - that Ballard has excoriated as recently as Aug. 29 for trying to get involved in his case without his permission.
By Ballard's own admission, he savagely knifed to death his former girlfriend, Denise Merhi, 39; her father, Dennis Marsh, 62; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh Jr., 87; and Steven Zernhelt, 53, a neighbor who heard screams and tried to help.
A hearing for Ballard is scheduled Oct. 14, when Giordano is slated to consider whether he is competent to waive his appeals. Both Ballard and Corriere said they expect it will be pushed back because Dr. Frank Dattilio, the psychologist examining Ballard, has indicated he will need more time to complete his report.
The federal lawsuit was filed in 2007 by Bucks County killer Frank Chester, who was sentenced to die for a 1987 torture-slaying of a Levittown artist. It was created on behalf of the state's death row inmates, and anyone who may end up on death row while it is pending.
It argues that the state's execution methods bring unnecessary pain to the condemned, and therefore violates their Eighth Amendment rights.
Ballard also pointed to a recent lawsuit by the ACLU and four newspapers seeking to unseal records on the drugs the state acquires for lethal injections. He also highlighted botched executions recently in other states.
Source: Morning Call, October 4, 2014
