Don Charles Ball, 65, last known to reside in Parkville, Mo., on Friday, April 29, was sentenced in Wyandotte County District Court on his convictions for mistreatment of a dependent adult and for issuing a worthless check.
The court ordered a sentence of 32 months on the conviction for mistreatment of a dependent adult, and a sentence of 12 months on the conviction for delivering a worthless check. Those sentences were ordered to be served concurrently. Ball may avoid imprisonment if he successfully completes 36 months of intensive probation. His probation order specifically requires him to receive certain counseling, and to pay $38,293.46 in restitution, and to serve 60 days of shock time in the Wyandotte County jail commencing immediately. Ball was taken into custody in the courtroom.
Ball, a practicing attorney in Kansas City, Kan., for many years, was lawyer to a conservatorship for a man who had suffered a brain injury and who resided in an assisted living facility. In that capacity, the district court had ordered Ball to hold approximately $40,000 of the disabled man’s money in trust, and not to expend the same except upon approval of the court.
When it came time to spend down the disabled man’s assets the court ordered Ball to transfer the asset to the assisted living facility to be used for the disabled man. That transfer was not forthcoming, and after months of Ball’s failure to turn the money over, the assisted living facility went to court to compel Ball to act. The court again ordered Ball to turn the asset over, but he failed to do so. The court then held Ball in contempt. Ultimately, Ball delivered a check made out on his business account, not his trust account, in the amount of $32,296.46 to the court. When that check was deposited, it was returned for insufficient funds in the account. After being notified of the bank’s rejection of the check, Ball failed to fund the account.
The district attorney then charged Ball with one count of delivering a worthless check, a severity level 7 nonperson, felony; and with one count of mistreatment of a dependent adult, a severity level 5 person felony.
With formal charges having been filed in Wyandotte County, the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator, the authority in Kansas that polices lawyer licenses, sought an order of temporary suspension of Ball’s license to practice law. The disciplinary administrator combined this case along with another in its motion to suspend Ball’s license. The Kansas Supreme Court, in special session on June 18, 2013, convened a hearing on the disciplinary administrator’s motion. An audio recording of the hearing is available at http://www.kscourts.org/kansas-courts/supreme-court/archive/archived-arguments-June-2013.asp. The Supreme Court did temporarily suspend Ball’s license, and it remains suspended to this day.
In the Wyandotte County criminal case Ball waived his right to a jury trial, and in December 2015, the case was tried to the court. He was found guilty of both counts. A presentence investigation report was prepared by court services. Ball was found to have no previous criminal history. The Kansas sentencing guidelines for the counts of conviction and Ball’s criminal history score presumed that the standard sentence for mistreatment of a dependent adult to be 32 months to be served in prison, and the standard sentence for delivering a worthless check in an amount over $25,000 to be 12 months in prison. Additionally, with respect to the conviction for mistreatment of a dependent adult, by a person with Ball’s criminal history score, an optional non-prison sentence is possible upon the finding of certain facts if made by the court.
At the sentencing hearing on Friday, the state emphasized the vulnerability of the dependent adult and the betrayal of trust as compelling reasons to require Ball to serve his sentence in prison.
Ball, through his attorney, made a plea for probation based upon a career of legal service and the findings in an evaluation, as well as his previously unblemished criminal record.
The case was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Brancart.