FRANKLIN COUNTY (KFSM) — A defense motion filed to continue a first-degree murder trial was granted.
Lester Ballinger’s jury trial date has been scheduled for September 8-9, according to his attorney Ray Spruell.
Ballinger was been charged with the murder of 23-year-old Justin Broomfield, in Denning, Ark. in September 2015. Broomfield’s Broomfield’s body was found on Cherry Street, just south of the railroad tracks on Sept. 6.
A medical examiner later ruled Broomfield’s cause of death was a sharp force injury to the neck. The Arkansas State Crime Lab also confirmed there was blood on Ballinger’s boots, pants and shirt; the lab then confirmed the blood belonged to Broomfield.
The jury trial was originally scheduled for May 19-20.
