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Convictions upheld in fatal scalding of boy, 2
But the appellate court says the man who killed his son must be resentenced
An appeals court has affirmed the guilty verdicts of a Tulsa man who was convicted of murdering and neglecting his 2-year-old son, but it ordered that he be resentenced.
In an order filed Wednesday, the state Court of Criminal Appeals sent
Carlis Ball's case back to Tulsa County District Court for a new sentencing because his jury in 2006 was not instructed about the ramifications of an "85 percent" crime.
Ball's trial concluded one day before the appeals court, in an unrelat ed Tulsa County murder case, issued a ruling that opened the door for jurors to hear how much time a murderer must serve on a life term before being eligible for parole.
In Ball's case, jurors imposed a no-parole life prison term for the first-degree murder of his 2-year-old son,
Keenan Taylor , who was fatally scalded.
Ball, now 26, also was found guilty of neglecting Keenan, and that resulted in a consecutive life term with parole possible.
By a 4-1 vote, the appeals court upheld both convictions.
Prosecutors asserted that Ball
intentionally poured scalding water on Keenan on June 8, 2005, inflicting burns on about 50 percent of the toddler's body.
Prosecutors said Ball -- the only adult who lived in an apartment with four children --
neglected to get medical care for the boy for 20 hours after the scalding. Keenan died at a hospital on June 9, 2005, nine days before his third birthday.
Ball has said the boy was burned accidentally.
At the trial, the only other punishment option for first-degree murder was life with parole possible.
District Judge Tom Thornbrugh denied a defense request to give jurors the option of returning a verdict on the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter.
That charge, which allows a maximum sentence of four years, involves an accusation of "culpable negligence" -- an omission to do something that a reasonably careful person would do, or a failure to use ordinary care and caution.
The appellate opinion, written by Judge David Lewis, calls it an "abuse of discretion" for Thornbrugh not to instruct jurors on the second-degree manslaughter option.
Thornbrugh also erred in not instructing jurors about the defense of an "excusable homicide," the opinion says.
But the appeals court said that "in light of the evidence as a whole and the remaining instructions, the refused instructions on excusable homicide and second-degree manslaughter would not have changed the outcome" and provided no basis to reverse the convictions.
Tulsa County judges now inform jurors that a life term for murder is treated as 45 years and that a convicted defendant must serve at least 85 percent -- or 38 years and three months -- before being eligible for parole. Judges also now tell jurors about the 85 percent requirement for certain crimes that are less serious than murder that can result in sentences for a specific number of years.
The appeals court has ordered resentencings in several Tulsa County murder cases -- tried before the appellate requirement that jurors be told about the 85 percent factor -- because jurors were not instructed in that regard.
In Ball's case, Appeals Judge Charles Chapel dissented and indicated that he would reverse the entire trial outcome.
Chapel asserted that a medical examiner, Dr. Ronald Distefano, provided improper testimony, "as he reached a conclusion not based on the evidence, and told jurors what result to reach."
died last Thursday after suffering traumatic brain injuries at a home in Hammond.
