11 years later, Romeoville baseball bat murder case still awaits trial

A 2014 first-degree murder case in which a Romeoville man died after being hit in the head with a baseball bat is still pending a trial.

The case against Mark Ballard, 53, of Romeoville, was first filed on Aug. 12, 2014 and it has remained stuck in pretrial limbo since then.

Among the many reasons why the case has lasted that long has been because of numerous pretrial motions filed by either Ballard or his attorneys that require extensive court hearings and witness testimony, court records show.

Ballard has also repeatedly changed attorneys and served as his own lawyer throughout the case, court records show. Jury trials have been canceled as both parties wrangle with legal and evidentiary issues raised by Ballard.

Ballard is charged with the first-degree murder of Richard Pollack, 55, by striking him in the head with a baseball bat. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Ballard spent seven years in jail until he was released in 2022 following Will County Judge Bertani-Tomczak’s decision to reduce his cash bond from $2.5 million to $100,000.

In the same year, Ballard was allowed to travel to Orlando, Florida for a family trip to Disney World, court records show.

Ballard’s son, Adam Ballard, had also been charged with the first-degree murder of Pollack. He was 15 at the time of the incident that was described as a street brawl by Romeoville police officials.

In 2019, Adam Ballard agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder.

Adam Ballard was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison but he only had to serve half of that time, which he already completed while he was in jail. He was paroled not too long after he pleaded guilty to killing Pollack.

Adam Ballard died at age 25 in 2024.

On Aug. 10, 2014, Adam Ballard arrived at Pollack’s residence with Mark Ballard and several others, according to a statement of facts filed in court by prosecutors.

Pollack and two other people exited the residence, prosecutors said.

“All parties were in the front yard of [Pollack’s] residence. […] Certain members of each party had baseball bats. A fight began. [Pollack] was hit by a bat and was unconscious in [the] street. While [Pollack] was on street unconscious, Adam struck [Pollack] in the head with a baseball bat, claiming self defense,” prosecutors said.

Mark Ballard’s case had been scheduled for a jury trial last June.

But the trial was canceled after Ballard made it known to Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak that he intended to file yet another motion to dismiss the case, court records show.

A hearing on Ballard’s latest motion has been set for Aug. 21.