A 21-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison Friday after Hamilton County jurors convicted him of murder in a 2015 motel robbery.
Jurors filed back into Judge Don Poole's courtroom around 11:30 a.m. to announce that Khyree Thompson was guilty of first-degree felony murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery in the February 2015 homicide of Reginald Ballard. All told, they deliberated about four hours after starting Thursday evening.
Thompson will return Dec. 16 for his sentencing on the attempted robbery charge, a Class C felony that carries a three-to-15-year range. His defense attorney, Rex Sparks, maintained afterward that one of Thompson's alleged accomplices, Verronta Page, was the one who fatally shot Ballard in the chest. Since Tuesday, prosecutors have said that's not quite true: Thompson shot Ballard in the chest and neck at the Cascades Motel in East Ridge after hatching a plot to rob him of $4,000 with Page and a third friend, Tabitha Garrison, 23.
When jurors announced their verdict Friday, Ballard's family members quietly pumped their fists. The victim's mother, Denise Ballard, leaned over the railing, rested her head in her daughter's hands, and started crying.
She thanked jurors afterward, recalling a few memories of her son, whose nickname was "Tez."
"It hurts," Denise Ballard said of the verdict. "I just want to bring my son back."
"Tez," who loved the Cleveland Cavaliers, graduated from Brainerd High School in 2012. He worked three jobs to provide for his son, a 1-year-old at the time of his death, his mother said.
Tez liked to get on his aunt's nerves by calling and saying, "Aunty, what are you cooking? Let me get that." He loved playing with his cousins and putting on goofy faces and voices.
Denise Ballard said she didn't believe the defense's allegation that Verronta Page shot "Tez" in the chest.
Earlier in the week, Page testified that Ballard sent a picture of several $100 bills to Garrison, saying he wanted to spend some money on her. That inspired the robbery plot.
Garrison, who left a party with Ballard on Feb. 19, 2015, then texted Page and Thompson about the motel, led them upstairs and cracked Ballard's door open. Thompson burst into the room, pointed his 9 mm pistol in Ballard's face and commanded Page to take the money, Page said.
But Page said he never did; he instead ran out of the motel room and heard two loud pops a few moments later.
Although Garrison never spoke on the stand, Sparks played her testimony from a 2015 hearing in an East Ridge municipal court. It was actually Page who shot Ballard in the chest, she said. Then, Thompson walked over his dying body and shot him once in the neck.
Prosecutors pointed out that her chain of events didn't line up with the evidence. Andrew Coyle said Page was carrying a .45-caliber pistol, but investigators only found 9 mm casings in the motel room.
And according to prosecutors, Thompson was carrying a 9 mm gun.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow on Twitter @zackpeterson918.