Romeoville murder defendant released from jail after 7 years

A man charged with a Romeoville murder who has been in jail for more than 7 years won his release on Thursday.

The murder case against Mark Ballard, 50, of the 300 block of Healy Avenue in Romeoville still remains open and has yet to go to trial. Ballard is due back in court on April 7.

Ballard had been in jail since Aug. 11, 2014.

On Thursday, Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak granted a motion from Ballard’s attorney Chuck Bretz to lower his client’s bond over the objection of prosecutors.

Ballard’s bond was lowered from $2.5 million to $100,000. Ballard’s Healy Avenue residence was allowed to be posted as “sufficient collateral for bond obligation,” court records show.

Ballard was released on Thursday afternoon, jail records show.

Bertani-Tomczak previously lowered Ballard’s bond from $5 million to $2.5 million on July 3, 2019.

As a condition of Ballard’s release, he must not contact any state witnesses or any member of the family of Richard Pollack, 55, whom Ballard was charged with killing.

Ballard’s son, Adam Ballard, 22, already pleaded guilty on March 12, 2019 to the offense of second-degree murder in connection with Pollack’s death.

Adam Ballard was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he only had to serve half that time, most of which he already completed while he was in jail awaiting trial.

Adam Ballard went to Pollack’s residence on Aug. 10, 2014, with his father and four other people, according to the statement of facts filed by prosecutors in the younger Ballard’s case.

At that time Pollack and two other members of his family exited the residence, prosecutors said. All of them were in the front yard of Pollack’s residence in the 400 block of Tallman Avenue.

“Certain members of each party had baseball bats,” prosecutors said.

“A fight began. Victim was hit by a bat and was unconscious in the street. While victim was on street unconscious, Adam struck the victim in the head with a baseball bat, claiming self-defense,” prosecutors said.