A FATAL DISPUTE
MAN FACES TRIAL IN HEATED ARGUMENT THAT ENDED IN DEADLY SHOOTING IN CHESTER HEIGHTS
>> A Chester Heights man who allegedly admitted to shooting his neighbor during a late-night confrontation in May has been held over for trial on all charges, including first-degree murder.
The ruling came after the suspect’s defense attorney argues the case did not rise to the level of a first-degree murder.
John J. Ballas, 49, of the 100 block of Bishops Drive, is also facing charges of criminal homicide, thirddegree murder and possession of a weapon for the May 26 shooting death of Joseph Iavarone, a former Garnet Valley School District gym coach. Formal arraignment is set for August 7.
Iavarone, a 1992 graduate of Garnet Valley High School, had been employed in the district for 20 years, including 18 as a health and physical education teacher at Garnet Valley High School and Garnet Valley Middle School. He also coached at both levels, primarily football.
Iavarone resigned from the district March 22 for what Superintendent Dr. Marc Bertrando called “personal and professional” reasons.
Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Michael Santos, the only witness at Friday’s preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Walter A. Strohl, testified that he was dispatched to the Village of Valleybrook complex at about 3:10 or 3:15 a.m. May 26 for a report of an intoxicated man yelling and destroying property.
Santos told Assistant District Attorney Geoff Paine that he found Ballas standing in front of his house upon arrival. The trooper said Ballas walked toward him with his arms raised and nothing in his hands, then motioned behind him and said there was a gun on the grass. Santos said he saw the weapon as well as Iavarone lying face down on the ground.
“I asked if he had shot the victim and he said, ‘Yes,’” Santos said.
Santos told defense attorney Mark Much that Ballas “seemed fine” and was cooperative. Ballas allegedly told Santos he believed he had shot Iavarone in the torso. Santos said he cut open the victim’s shirt and rolled him over, but found no injuries on his torso.
Santos did find that Iavarone had suffered a single gunshot wound to the top of the head, however. Paine stipulated that there was no evidence of more than one shot being fired.
Santos said Iavarone was still alive when he arrived, but did not speak. Paramedics transported the victim to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:47 p.m. the following day.
Ballas was initially charged with attempted murder, but those charges were upgraded to murder upon Iavarone’s death. He is being held without bail at the county prison.
An affidavit of probable cause indicates the confrontation began with an argument between Iavarone and the defendant’s son, and that the initial phone call to state police came from Ballas’ wife, Stephanie.
Stephanie Ballas called at approximately 3:10 a.m. and reported “a disorderly subject who was possibly intoxicated and damaging property, namely a flower pot, outside her residence on Bishops Drive,” according to the affidavit.
Two minutes later, at 3:12 a.m., state police received a call from another resident on Bishops Drive who reported hearing what sounded like a violent argument outside her residence. That same resident called state police again at 3:24 a.m. to report what she believed was a gunshot in the complex.
Santos told Much that he was responding to the initial call and had been dispatched directly by state police, not Delaware County dispatch. He said there were subsequent calls to respond to the address, but he did not recall the context.
The affidavit indicates the weapon used was a silver .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver. Santos told Much someone else collected the gun as well as separate ammunition.
Stephanie Ballas told state police she was awakened by the sound of what she believed to be her children arguing, though she later learned the argument involved her son and Iavarone, according to the affidavit.
She said her husband, who was inside their residence, retrieved a firearm from a locked box under their bed. Investigators later found an empty gun box for a Smith and Wesson revolver on the floor of the master bedroom. Both the lock on the box and a key operated trigger lock found inside the box had been opened.
Two other Bishops Drive residents, a woman and her daughter, told troopers they had witnessed the confrontation and the daughter captured audio on her cell phone.
Both gave similar accounts that Iavarone was outside and threatened the younger Ballas, telling him to come outside to fight.
The woman said she saw John Ballas outside of his home near the front steps and that she heard him tell Iavarone he had a gun, according to the affidavit. She allegedly heard Ballas threaten to shoot Iavarone, to which Iavarone replied, “Shoot me,” followed by the sound of a gunshot.
The daughter, who knew Iavarone as a resident of her building and as a gym teacher at her high school, also said she heard him threatening the younger Ballas.
She and her mother watched from a window on
the second floor as Iavarone approached the Ballas residence multiple times, the affidavit states. She also heard a verbal confrontation between the victim and the younger Ballas that lasted several minutes.
The daughter said she also heard Ballas tell Iavarone that he had a gun, to which Iavarone responded by walking toward the Ballas residence.
“At the time of the shooting, (the daughter) observed the victim slowly advancing toward Ballas … the victim was not charging Ballas,” the affidavit states. She then heard the victim say, “Shoot me.”
The cell phone recording did not include video, but the affidavit indicates this exchange could be heard between two voices identified by witnesses as John Ballas and Joseph Iavarone:
“I don’t f—- around,” Iavarone is heard saying.
“If you come on my yard again you’re going to get shot,” says Ballas.
“By who,” asks Iavarone, to which Ballas replies, “Me.”
The victim then asks Ballas if he has a gun, to which Ballas replies, “I f——- got a gun.”
Iavarone is then heard saying, “Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, shoot me,” after which the conversation becomes unintelligible for a few seconds until the victim is heard saying, “I don’t f—- around,” followed by a loud bang.
Ballas is then heard saying, “I told you not to do it,” followed by, “He started coming at me, I’m on my porch, I’m staying here until the cops come, go inside.”
Much did not have an argument for the third-degree murder charge, but said the shooting did not rise to the level of first-degree murder and that charge should be dismissed.
“This is not premeditated murder, specific intent to kill with malice,” he told the judge. “This man came to my client’s home at 3 a.m., yelling and screaming and damaging property outside the home. I would suggest to you that that’s not a murder-one case.”
Paine argued the specific intent to kill necessary for a first-degree murder charge can be inferred by the use of a deadly weapon on a “vital part of the body.” Even in Ballas’ estimation that he shot for the torso, Paine said that would qualify. Anything concerning justification for that use of force would be for a jury to decide, he added.
Ballas, wearing a red prison jumpsuit, nodded to about two dozen supporters gathered for Friday’s hearing as he entered the courtroom. Only two people who identified themselves as friends of Iavarone sat opposite, on the prosecution side of the room.
One of them, Dave Bytheway, said he grew up with Iavarone in the small Garnet Valley community where Iavarone’s and Ballas’ children attend school together.
“A lot of these kids are very upset,” said Bytheway, who now lives in New Jersey. “A friend of mine, her kid couldn’t even talk to me when it first happened, he was so upset. It’s a lot on the community.”
Bytheway said Iavarone never talked about having issues with his neighbors, but was in the midst of a tough custody battle for his two children. He said it would not have been out of character for Iavarone to act the way witnesses described, though he did not believe it was necessary to shoot him.
“No one wins here,” said Bytheway. “Joe’s kids don’t have a father and these kids’ father may be going to jail for a long time. So, no one wins here. …It’s just a bad situation all around.”