BENTONVILLE -- A jury deliberated for several hours Friday but did not reach a verdict in Anthony Ballett's capital murder trial.
Prosecutors waived the death penalty in the case, so if convicted of the capital murder charge, Ballett, 42, will be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The seven men and five women on the jury heard closing arguments from the attorney Friday, then at 10:15 a.m., Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren sent the panel from the courtroom to begin their deliberations.
Karren sent the jurors home shortly after 4 p.m. The jury will return Tuesday morning to resume deliberations.
Ballett is accused of killing Keundra Allen on Dec. 26, 2019, and stabbing him 13 times, according to court documents. Police found Allen in a grassy area near an apartment at 502 S.E. B St., about a block from the Bentonville Public Library.
Ieshia Webster testified Thursday that she and Ballett had been married for six years. The two had a traditional ceremony and one in their mosque but never turned in their marriage license to the state. They considered themselves husband and wife.
Webster said the two started having relationship difficulties, and Ballett moved out of their Bentonville apartment and into one in Rogers.
She testified that she met Allen and the two later started a relationship. Webster said Ballett twice found Allen in her apartment, but there was not a physical altercation between the two men.
Ballett came to the apartment on Dec. 26, 2019, and Allen went outside to confront him, Webster said. The two were fighting, and Webster and a friend pulled Allen back into the apartment. Ballett left the scene, she said.
Ballett returned to the apartment and Webster and Allen heard a noise in the back yard. Allen went outside after hearing the noise. Webster said she heard a scream, went outside and saw Ballett on top of Allen.
She saw a bleeding Allen on the ground and Ballett left the scene, Webster said.
Bryan Sexton, chief deputy prosecutor, told jurors that Ballett committed capital murder and acted with premeditated purpose and deliberation in causing Allen's death.
Sexton told jurors Ballett told them he caused Allen's death. Prosecutors presented Ballett's police interviews as evidence of him admitting to killing Allen.
Allen did not have any defensive wounds, but had multiple stab wounds with three deep wounds to his back and chest.
Ballett got in a fight with a man in a relationship with his estranged wife and brought a knife and killed him, Sexton said.
Sexton said Allen's killing was not an act of extreme emotional disturbance, but an act of planning.
"His mindset was premeditated and deliberate in killing Allen," Sexton said. "The man who was standing between him and his wife."
Katherine Streett, one of Ballett's attorneys, said he was acting with extreme emotional disturbance. Ballett caused the death of another person, but the defense believes the crime is manslaughter, Streett said. She asked jurors to find Ballett guilty of manslaughter, not capital murder.
"We are not asking you to find him not guilty and send him home," she said.
Streett said the evidence demonstrates that Allen started the fight and Ballett fought back and lost control.
The jury has the option of choosing between two other lesser included offenses: first- and second-degree murder.
Ballett is being held without bond in the Benton County jaill.