Florida court acquits death row inmate

State Supreme Court finds no proof man killed neighbors

The Florida Supreme Court ordered death row inmate John Robert Ballard, 37, acquitted of murder.

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- The Florida Supreme Court unanimously ordered the acquittal of a death row inmate Thursday, saying prosecutors had not proved he killed two neighbors.

John Robert Ballard, 37, has served nearly three years for the 1999 murders of his friends Jennifer Jones and Willie Ray Patin Jr., whose skulls were smashed at their apartment.

"It's music to my ears," said Michael Orlando, Ballard's lawyer. "It's taken a long journey, but it was well worth the wait for this particular result."

Ballard will not be released from death row immediately because prosecutors have 15 days to ask the court to reconsider.

Chere Avery, a spokeswoman for the Collier County state attorney's office, said only that prosecutors were disappointed.

The only evidence tying Ballard to the crime was a fingerprint on a bed frame and an arm hair found in Jones' hand, the high court said.

But the court noted the possibility that Ballard left the fingerprint and hair during one of his many visits.

Jones was a marijuana dealer, and gang members had shot into the apartment a week before the killings, the court said. But prosecutors never presented evidence ruling out the gang members as the killers.

Prosecutors believe the killer's motive was robbery.

Jones kept large amounts of money in the apartment -- but there was no evidence Ballard had such money after the killings, the court said.