JOLIET, Ill. (AP) – A suburban Chicago man has pleaded guilty to fatally striking a 55-year-old man in the head with a baseball bat.
The (Joliet) Herald-News reports that 19-year-old Adam Ballard of Romeoville pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the August 2014 death of Richard Pollack. Ballard’s Will County bench trial started Monday and he entered the plea the next day. Ballard was sentenced to 10 years in prison and will receive credit for serving more than four and a half years in the Will County jail.
Ballard was 15 at the time of Pollack’s death. He has claimed he struck Pollack in self-defense.
Ballard’s father, 47-year-old Mark Ballard, also is charged with murder in Pollack’s death. His case has yet to go to trial and he remains in the county jail.
