Dateline: November 27, 2008

Ballard pleads on manslaughter charge

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A Clarendon man will spend up to one year in a state substance abuse facility after pleading guilty November 6 to the second-degree felony charge of manslaughter.

Raymond Ballard was arrested in August and charged with manslaughter after Thomas Childress Herman was found dead in his Clarendon apartment on July 7.

Ballard had been previously arrested on July 9 and charged with possession of forged checks with Herman’s name on them. Ballard was also charged with possessing stolen credit cards not belonging to Herman.

During the course of the investigation by the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, a polygraph was run on Ballard on July 17, and a statement was received from the accused, which led Sheriff Butch Blackburn to receive the official complaint and charge of manslaughter from District Attorney Luke Inman.

Inman’s office said Tuesday that Ballard will spend up to one year in a state run Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility (SAFPF). He was transferred from the Donley County Jail to SAFPF on Tuesday. Ballard also received four years deferred adjudication.

“We take each case and look at the facts available, and that’s how we base our plea agreements,” Inman said.

If Ballard fails to complete treatment, he will be subject to the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, Inman said.

In other district court business on November 6, Ebony Butler was placed on probation for a period of three years for burglary of a habitation with intent to commit assault, which occurred in August.

Butler was sentenced to six years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but that sentence was probated for a three-year period. Butler pled guilty to the second-degree offense of burglary.

Butler was originally indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on October 6, 2008.

The court also sentenced Theresa Lee Powell to ten months in the state jail division of the TDCJ on a charge of forgery.

In each of the above cases, District Attorney Luke Inman was the prosecutor for the State of Texas.