EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — One of four men accused in a kidnapping and fatal beating has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after entering a plea to a reduced murder charge.
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — One of four men accused in a kidnapping and fatal beating has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after entering a plea to a reduced murder charge. Twenty-one-year-old Terry Ballinger of Alton entered an Alford plea Monday in Madison County to a second-degree murder count. Under such a plea, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges prosecutors have sufficient evidence for a conviction. Ballinger was originally charged with first-degree murder in the February 2007 beating and slashing death of 41-year-old Ernest Walker of Alton. Walker’s body was found in Missouri. While jailed, Ballinger threw urine and feces on at least one sheriff’s deputy. He pleaded guilty Monday in two of those attacks and was sentenced to five years in prison apiece. ______ Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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