Published: Tuesday, February 01, 2011, 1:04 PM Updated: Tuesday, February 01, 2011, 1:50 PM
By Sarah Cassi | The Express-Times
Michael Eric Ballard is charged with homicide in the stabbing deaths of four people inside a Northampton home.
Northampton County’s district attorney claims Michael Ballard has been bragging in prison about killing two other people when he was first paroled.
Ballard is accused of fatally stabbing Denise Marie Merhi, 39; Alvin Marsh Jr., 87, who is Merhi’s grandfather; Dennis Marsh, 62, who is Merhi’s father; and Steven Zernhelt, 53, a neighbor, in June in a Northampton Borough home.
In court paperwork filed today, District Attorney John Morganelli claims Ballard killed Alvin Marsh, Dennis Marsh and Zernhelt because he didn’t want any witnesses to testify against him.
Ballard also bragged he killed two other people on the Poconos while on parole, but that the police didn’t know about those murders, according to the paperwork.
Morganelli didn’t put a lot of credence into Ballard’s claims.
“It might just be a lot of puff,” Morganelli said.
Morganelli said he’s giving the information to prosecutors in Monroe and Carbon counties.
Morganelli said the information was based on interviews with Ballard’s fellow inmates at state prison in Frackville, Pa., where Ballard is being held while awaiting trial.
A state trooper interviewed Wilfredo Riddick, who claimed Ballard said he killed his girlfriend and she “deserved it,” according to court papers.
Riddick said Ballard told him he killed the other three to prevent any possible witnesses and that one victim was killed for “being nosy,” court records say.
“Ballard said the others would still be alive if his girlfriend had been honest,” according to court papers.
Ballard’s trial on four homicide charges in Northampton County is scheduled for May 9.
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