A Lakeville man was sentenced Thursday to life without the possibility of parole on each of two counts in the May 2024 death of his pregnant sister and her unborn child, Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced.
Jack Joseph Ball, 25, was sentenced in Dakota County District Court in Hastings by Judge Bryce A.D. Ehrman. The two life sentences will be served one after the other, which the county attorney’s office said the state had asked for.
Ball was convicted of murder in the first-degree with premeditation and murder of an unborn child in the first-degree with premeditation. Under Minnesota law, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. The court dismissed two second-degree murder counts.
Ball pleaded guilty to both counts on Jan. 21, 2026, according to the county attorney’s office. The office said a court trial followed on his mental illness defense and that Judge Ehrman found he did not meet his burden of proving it.
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Ball will serve the sentences at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Saint Cloud. He received credit for 883 days already served.
PREVIOUSLY: Lakeville Man Found Guilty of Murdering Pregnant Sister, Unborn Child
