The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb woman is convicted again of murdering husband
Jury finds wife hoped to get $1.2M insurance payout.
DeKalb County’s Pamela Ballin, the 56-year-old woman whose murder case has drawn national attention, has been convicted again of faking a home invasion and killing her husband.
A jury returned the guilty verdicts late Friday, finding she bludgeoned Derrick Ballin Sr., 53, on Dec. 29, 2009, in hopes of getting a $1.2 million life insurance payout. It is the second time she has been convicted of his murder.
After the first conviction in 2014, Judge Mark Anthony Scott decided to release her from custody, saying he wasn’t sure she had received a fair trial. A month later, he decided she had been treated fairly and ordered her arrested.
Sentenced to life, Ballin appealed for a new trial after taking issue with a state’s witness’ testimony. She won and went back on trial last week, with the jury making the same determination that she was guilty.
Derrick Ballin was attacked in his Turnbridge Wells Road home near Lithonia. Pamela Ballin called 911 and said home invaders had done it. DeKalb County police found the bloodied and barely conscious husband near the front door, with nearly a dozen wounds to the head from a statue that lay nearby.
The wife said she was hiding in her upstairs bedroom during the attack, listening to the “unfamiliar voices downstairs.”
The home was in disarray, but police could find no sign of a break-in. An expert testified that the wife’s story was impossible based on the evidence at the scene. Judge Gail Flake is presiding over the current trial. No new sentencing date has been set.
Under Georgia law, the lowest possible penalty for murder is life. The only question is whether Ballin will have a chance at parole.