Deliberations are beginning Monday in the quadruple murder case against 37-year-old Michael Eric Ballard.
Ballard pleaded guilty last month in the grisly June 26 rampage that killed 39-year-old Denise Merhi, her father, grandfather and a neighbor in Northampton.
Prosecutors say Ballard killed Merhi because she was involved with another man. At the time of the killings Ballard was on parole for a 1991 murder in which he slit a man's throat and stole his car.
Ballard said in a letter to The Morning Call of Allentown he hopes jurors will give him credit for taking responsibility for the slayings.
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Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com
