Northampton Killer Sentenced to Die

For the first time in more than 20 years, a Northampton County jury has sentenced someone to death.

Michael Ballard, who admitted last month to killing four people in the borough of Northampton in June 2010, received the death penalty for all four murders this afternoon, according to media reports.

The four people Ballard was convicted of killing included his former girlfriend, Denise Merhi; Merhi's father, Dennis Marsh; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh Jr.; and a neighbor who tried to help, Steven Zernhelt. All of the victims were stabbed to death in Merhi's home.

Ballard becomes the only Northampton County inmate on Pennsylvania's death row, according to the state Department of Correction's most recent figures. Martin Appel, who was convicted in 1986 of a deadly bank robbery in East Allen Township, had his sentence vacated in 2001. 

Josoph Henry, who was convicted and sentenced to die in 1987 for the rape and murder of , had his conviction overturned in 2002. Both Appel and Henry eventually pleaded guilty following these rulings and are serving life sentences.