Lewis A. "Buck" Ballard sodomized and murdered 6 year old boy

[Wicked Doll]

What an evil mutherfucker. He needs to be put away for a long, long time. He's too dangerous to be on the streets. He won't change.

A judge is expected to rule Thursday whether a man accused in the sodomy and murder of a six-year-old boy in Bourbon County is competent to stand trial.

Lewis A. "Buck" Ballard, 48, is charged in the August 2007 murder of Wesley Mullins, who was found dead in his grandfather's garage in Paris. According to the indictment Ballard, who lived with Mullins' grandfather, struck the boy in the head repeatedly with a blunt object inside his grandfather's garage. The indictment also reveals that he engaged in sexual intercourse with the six-year-old.

Back in February, a doctor from the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center testified that even though Ballard's I.Q. is low and he can't read at higher than a second grade level he still understands the legal system and what it means to be charged with murder, saying that he believes that Ballard is competent to stand trial.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30137140/

Original story:

It's a case that has enraged a community. Friday police arrested Lewis Buck Ballard for the murder of six year old Wesley Mullins. Now his mother says she'll continue to push for justice.

Paris police found the little boy's body nearly a month ago and following the arrest of Ballard, the child's mother Stephanie Moore says she finally has some peace of mind."I've been keeping my phone by me, haven't slept, haven't been able to eat. Just waiting for that phone call," said Moore.

Ballard was arrested Friday at his brother's Lexington home and indicted for murder and sodomy. According to the the indictment Ballard, who lived with Mullins' grandfather, struck the boy in the head repeatedly with a blunt object, inside his grandfather's garage. The indictment also reveals that he engaged in sexual intercourse with the six-year-old. Crushing new details for Mullins' uncle. "You can't be human and be a person like that, that's an evil, evil person. That's the devil inside that man," said James Snelling.

Ballard's arrest also signaled a sense of accomplishment for Paris police who have been working night and day for weeks. "We are not done by any means, we're happy because we know he's not breathing our free air after what he did to that boy. He's where he needs to be, but we won't let up now, we keep going," said Chief Tim Gray. However, Chief Gray does not expect to make any more arrests.

The nature of the crime makes Ballard eligible for the death penalty if he's convicted. A possibility that Stephanie embraces. "He's taken something from me I'll never get back, so I'm not going to stop until he suffers," said Moore.

LEX 18 News has also learned more about Ballard's criminal past, including disturbing allegations, several convictions and even details about the rape of a 12-year old girl. In 1989 Ballard pled guilty to raping the daughter of a woman he was living with, at the same house where Mulllin's grandfather now lives.

Ballard was sentenced to eight years for the crime, but was never put on the sex offender registry because it wasn't created until 1994. With the help of someone close to Ballard, we found that at least three of Ballard's brothers have also committed sex crimes.

Brothers Travis and Melvin are on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry for rape, sexual abuse and sodomy.

http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.as...15329&nav=EQlp

[seductress]

a bullet to the head or better yet, a blunt object to the head

[Wicked Doll]

a bullet to the head or better yet, a blunt object to the head

Works for me.

[CountJackula]

wow the whole family is frickin sex offenders... unbelievable

[Wicked Doll]

wow the whole family is frickin sex offenders... unbelievable

I know! Must be something in the water where they grew up. That or else the parents are the most dysfunctional people alive. My bet is on the latter.

Melvin:
http://kspsor.state.ky.us/sor/servlet/SOR?id=2148



Travis:
http://kspsor.state.ky.us/sor/servlet/SOR?id=4271

[Lavonna]

I remember watching that on the news when it happened. It's about 45 minutes from where I live and there were alot of people enraged. I also think he needs a fucking bullet right between his eyes.

[Wicked Doll]

I remember watching that on the news when it happened. It's about 45 minutes from where I live and there were alot of people enraged. I also think he needs a fucking bullet right between his eyes.

I think all of the Ballard brothers could use that bullet.

[Insomniac]

That entire family needs to be wiped off the face of the earth.

[lucky]

That entire family needs to be wiped off the face of the earth.

no doubt!

[Kalehue]

This is unbelievable -- he raped a 12-year old in the same house? What's the deal with the house? Is it some sort of half-way house for sex offenders? He lived with the mother of the rape victim in the same house where he later lived with little Wesley's grandfather? I wonder why he was living with the grandfather and how he ended up raping two children in the same house?

A bullet between the eyes is too kind for this guy. He needs to suffer. Sickening.

[Wicked Doll]

This is unbelievable -- he raped a 12-year old in the same house? What's the deal with the house? Is it some sort of half-way house for sex offenders? He lived with the mother of the rape victim in the same house where he later lived with little Wesley's grandfather? I wonder why he was living with the grandfather and how he ended up raping two children in the same house?

A bullet between the eyes is too kind for this guy. He needs to suffer. Sickening.

So many questions. I hope he is found competent so he can stand trial. The sentence better be a long one. A really long one. Disgusting.

[Marv]

What the fuck is up with Travis' head? He looks like a pencil.


This whole family is diseased. And what do you do with disease? Everything in your power to eradicate it. Put the whole fucking lot of them in a pit of petrol, and torch it.

The thought of what "Buck" did to that child is truly sickening. Fuck him, and his whole depraved family.


RIP little Wesley. Im so sorry you were brutalised and murdered by this vile waste of oxygen.

If there is any justice in this world, he will suffer horribly for what he did to you, and soon be spending eternity in Hell.

[Kalehue]

A judge ruled Thursday that a accused in the sodomy and murder of a six-year-old boy in Bourbon County is competent to stand trial.

Lewis A. "Buck" Ballard, 48, is charged in the August 2007 murder of Wesley Mullins, who was found dead in his grandfather's garage in Paris. According to the indictment Ballard, who lived with Mullins' grandfather, struck the boy in the head repeatedly with a blunt object inside his grandfather's garage. The indictment also reveals that he engaged in sexual intercourse with the six-year-old.

Back in February, a doctor from the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center testified that even though Ballard's I.Q. is low and he can't read at higher than a second grade level he still understands the legal system and what it means to be charged with murder, saying that he believes that Ballard is competent to stand trial.

After reviewing the doctor's findings, Judge Rob Johnson Thursday ruled that Ballard is competent, and will stand trial in August. In January, Ballard's attorneys asked to push back his trial to August to allow more time for evidence testing, and Johnson granted their request.

http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.as...57186&nav=EQlp

[Kalehue]

6-year old Wesley Mullins

[Wicked Doll]

Woo hoo! He so better get the death penalty. That's great new. Thank you VERY much for the update Kalehue.

[Kalehue]

Woo hoo! He so better get the death penalty.

Crossing my fingers....

[brokenandtwisted]

a bullet to the head or better yet, a blunt object to the head

Your lack of creativity is...disheartening. I fully recommend a gastrectomy...through the throat, with nothing but two pins.

The kid is adorable, what a pity.

[lucky]

6-year old Wesley Mullins

sweet little guy, so innocent... RIP Wesley xoxo

[kafka]

Posted on Wed, Oct. 28, 2009
Ballard silent as jury finds him guilty
By Shawntaye Hopkins
shopkins@herald-leader.com

VERSAILLES — There were sobs from the defendant's relatives and approving nods and grins from others in the courtroom Tuesday after Lewis "Buck" Ballard was found guilty of murder and first-degree sodomy.

After about six hours of deliberation, a Woodford Circuit Court jury convicted Ballard in the death of 6-year-old Wesley Dylan Mullins of Winchester. Ballard, 51, remained silent, without any noticeable change in his expression.

Wesley's body was found Aug. 4, 2007, in his grandfather's garage on Main Street in Paris. The trial was moved from Bourbon County to Woodford County to seat an impartial jury.

The jury will start the sentencing phase of the trial Wednesday morning. Ballard could get the death penalty.

Wesley's grandfather Bobby Mullins said he found Wesley's body after he thought he heard the boy call for him from the garage. Wesley was in a pool of blood, and his skull was severely fractured.

Ballard, who rented a room in Bobby Mullins' home, was arrested about a month later. A grand jury indicted Ballard, saying he killed Wesley by striking him repeatedly on the head with a blunt object.

In closing arguments Tuesday, Commonwealth's Attorney Gordie Shaw said Ballard killed Wesley because he had sodomized him and did not want the boy to tell anyone.

"You don't just go out and kill a 6-year-old boy for no reason," Shaw told jurors.

Defense attorneys attacked Bobby Mullins throughout the trial and said police did not conduct a thorough investigation.

They questioned why Mullins — who said he thought Wesley was asleep most of the day in Ballard's room — did not check on Wesley until about 5 p.m.

Wesley, who was visiting for the weekend, went to sleep in Ballard's room after the two stayed up late playing darts, according to Bobby Mullins and Ballard.

Defense attorney La Mer Kyle-Griffiths said in closing arguments that Wesley's blood was found on Mullins' jeans, and she suggested that the grandfather was wearing boots spattered with Wesley's blood.

She pointed to inconsistencies between Mullins' testimony in court and his statements to police. She said a substance from a penile swab from Wesley — which prosecutors tied to saliva with Ballard's DNA — was in a concentration too low to be saliva. She said the lab the defense used couldn't tell who the substance was from.

"Maybe's not enough to saddle someone with this horrible label," Kyle-Griffiths said. "And maybe's certainly not enough to find an innocent person guilty."

But Shaw said Ballard was wearing the boots spattered with Wesley's blood and never mentioned sharing the boots with Mullins until he took the stand Monday.

On Monday, Ballard said he kept the boots in the living room so Mullins could wear the boots when he wanted. But prosecutors say Ballard told police he put on his boots then left his room the evening Wesley was found dead.

"Folks, the boots were in a locked room with him," Shaw told the jury.

Regarding inconsistencies in Mullins' statements to police, Shaw said it was "amazing he could talk at all" to police immediately after finding Wesley in the garage.

Shaw said blood on the cuffs of Mullins' jeans could not be confirmed as Wesley's. And Shaw said he found it difficult to believe that someone could walk into a crime scene and not get blood on himself.

Shaw said it was Ballard's DNA on Wesley's penile swab. Circuit Judge Rob Johnson reminded jurors that they'd have to decide on inconsistencies regarding the penile swab and testing done by the Kentucky State Police lab and the lab the defense team used.

Attorneys involved in the case and Wesley's relatives in the courtroom declined to comment after the verdict.

Ballard remained silent as sheriff's deputies walked him out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
http://www.kentucky.com/2009/10/28/v...finds-him.html

[kafka]

The man convicted in the brutal murder of six-year-old Wesley Mullins back in 2007 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Tuesday morning..

Lewis "Buck" Ballard, 51, was convicted of intentional murder and sodomy in the case on October 18. Mullins was killed while the boy was visiting his grandfather's home in Bourbon County in August 2007. The prosecution contended that the boy was killed to keep him from talking about sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of Ballard.

The jury in the case recommendation for life without parole was for the murder charge. A second life sentence was recommended by the jury on the sodomy charge. The jury had the option of recommending the death penalty for Ballard in the case.

The murder trial was moved to Woodford County after officials were unsuccessful in trying to seat an impartial jury in Bourbon County.
http://www.lex18.com/news/ballard-ge...ullins-murder/

[Silvahalo]

A walking, pieceofputrid, vile shit. Life in prison without parole suits me fine as long as he dies a brutal death with a 6 ft pole up his . . .

Hard reading this right now as I watch my 6 yo boy from the window playing with the sun on his face, jumping about care free. . . being a kid.
Wesley you deserved a fair chance at life to be a child, discover life day by day.
So sorry for all that was done to you....stolen from you. May the angel's grace your precious face.

[Chinchillazilla]

I know this thread is really old, but I sat in on the trial for a couple of hours and wanted to share my experiences. It was really upsetting and I feel like telling like-minded people about it might help relieve some of the horror I still feel.

I live in Woodford County, where the trial took place. Versailles is a ridiculously tiny and very non-violent community, so a murder trial was a huge novelty. Since I'm a true-crime junkie and have read about and seen photos of many brutal murders, I figured that, while it would be very sad, I could handle the trial, so I went one day.

To be honest, for a while I was kind of bored by the testimony. The same questions were asked of the same people in slightly different ways for a couple of hours, and although I knew the boots' location had to be established, after a bit I was like "Enough about the boots!" At this point, I really don't remember who all I saw testify, but I do remember thinking "Wow, I love forensic science, and this science is boring even me - I don't think the jury is going to find this super-compelling." And then they rolled in the TV.

See, we lucky bastards in the courtroom were going to see video of the crime scene. Having seen many true-crime shows, I perked up. This was going to be the cool, glamourous part where someone pointed out blood spatter or something and dazzled us with the science, right? And the video started.

The video was totally silent except for the sounds of the cameraman walking, and so was the courtroom. It spent quite a while focusing on the exterior of the home and garage. The yard was more like a junkyard than a regular yard - there were literally just heaps of junk all over. If I remember right, the video was shot on a gray, overcast day, which just made it seem even more depressing. Then the cameraman entered the garage. The garage was in a similar state as the yard, only even more cluttered. We just looked at the junk for a while, I think I may have seen some Christmas decorations, and we saw a few drops of blood on the walls, and then it got horrific.

See, what I didn't know was this video was being taken with Wesley's body still in what I assume was its original position in the garage. At first, we only saw his feet as the camera focused on what had to be the murder weapon, a bloody golf club. Then the camera panned over and we saw Wesley. He was wearing pajamas - I remember them as blue, with some kind of pattern on them - maybe tanks and helicopters? He wasn't exposed. Either Ballard or someone else had pulled his PJ's up to cover him, which was the only good part. And then we saw his face. I was kind of reminded of Emmett Till. That's the kind of destruction we're talking about here. Except for his hands and feet, I would not have been able to tell his race. He was almost completely black and purple, with blood covering the rest of his skin. This is the last part of the video I saw, because I couldn't watch any more, but I did look around the room at everyone else.

I was sobbing. Obviously, Wesley's family was sobbing. I was sitting behind an older woman I assume was Ballard's mother (she had waved to him when he entered), and she was sobbing. The whole jury was sobbing. The prosecutors were crying, as were the defense attorneys, even though they had surely had to watch this video multiple times and knew what they were in for. The judge was crying. But Buck Ballard? He was watching the video like you'd watch, I don't know, a football game if you didn't like football. He looked pretty bored, and not at all distressed. And that's when I knew he did it.

The video ended and the judge quietly suggested we break for lunch, like anyone was going to eat, and I got the hell out of there and went to the library, sat in the deserted children's section, and cried until my ride got there. And that is the story of hopefully the last murder trial I ever attend.

Thanks for letting me get that out. It was really hard to type because it brought a lot of details back, but in some way I feel like I owe it to Wesley somehow. In retrospect, I feel like a ghoul for thinking the trial would be... entertaining, or whatever I thought it would be.

[Obsolete]

I was never fully convinced that Ballard was guilty. The defense was able to prove reasonable doubt and because of that, had I been on the jury, I woudn't have been able to vote guilty. I'm not saying he's innocent, just that there was and is reasonable doubt.

Regardless of whether or not he killed Wesley, he still deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. He's a pedophile and should never see the light of day again. That being said, I do think they should take another look at ol grandpa again.

[Kimberly Campbell Wilcox]

Ballard was guilty and is guilty. He murdered little Wesley. Bobby or "old grandpa" as you put it, died shortly after bucks conviction. He died from cancer. He lived long enough to see Ballard convicted and justic given to Wesley. I grew up around bobby seeing as how he is my uncle. He was one of the best men I've ever known and I spent my entire childhood with him. He was a good man. I know of the love he hd for Wesley and he never would have hurt him. The right man was convicted!

[kentuckymomma]

I know this is an old thread but I just stumbled on it today. While reading most of the threads, I manage to stay fairly detached from the details. I’m horrified but detached.

This story hit home on many levels. I live an hour north from there, but Bourbon County was a second home for me for many years (though after the events of this story) and the people there are so loving and wonderful. I’m an acquaintance of the original judge’s (Judge Johnson) son, so I was thrilled to see his competency ruling and proud to know someone who had a hand in putting this monster away. This story was just so heartbreaking on its own – but to see names of people I know and places I’ve been made the picture even more horrifying. That little boy should be running out in the sun, hunting, swimming, and playing like my little blonde Kentucky boy.