KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Probation for Texan over man's body dumped in La.
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Associated Press - August 20, 2009 1:54 PM ET
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) - Probation has been ordered for a Whitewright man who pleaded guilty to evidence tampering over a body dumped in Louisiana.
A news release Thursday to The Associated Press indicated 61-year-old Harold Ray Ballard on Aug. 14 was sentenced to seven years in prison, but instead must serve probation for 10 years and pay a $2,500 fine.
Investigators previously identified Ballard, who cooperated with law officers, as a boyfriend of Patricia McMillion (MIL'-yon).
A jury in Sherman in June convicted McMillion of murder in the 2008 slaying of her ex-husband, Kenneth James McMillion. His body was found in a canal in Grand Chenier (shu-NEER'), La.
She was sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown says McMillion "probably would have gotten away with murder" if Ballard did not come forward.
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