Day three, ‘hearing everything is like killing her all over again’
HARRISVILLE, Mich. – Jurors are halfway through the retrial of Patricia Leeper’s 18–year–old murder in Alcona County.
People who knew the victim as well as people who knew the defendant testified in court on Wednesday.
In day three of the week–long murder trial, both sides got into initial DNA evidence and more witnesses took to the stand – one of those being the ex–girlfriend of Leeper’s accused murderer, Nathaniel Ballard.
“…he put his hands on me sir,” said Jessica.
The father of Jessica’s children sat at the defense table. Jessica had a hard time looking at Ballard in the courtroom. She said Ballard used to abuse her off and on throughout their relationship.
“She was under subpoena to appear,” said detective sergeant Steve Harshberger, “she was reluctant to appear at the last trial out of fear of the defendant. That’s a chapter in her life that she put behind herself and she didn’t want to relive it.”
Relatives of the victim traveled from Flint and arrived for the first time this week to see the trial unfold again.
“Its like a part of our family has been ripped out,” said Patricia Leeper’s only child, Natasha Leeper.
“Honestly, having to go through this a second time…hearing everything is like killing her all over again. I’m ready to get it over with.”
Natasha talked of her kids, how two them met her mother and how one would never meet their Grandma Pat.
“When I had my second daughter, well my second child, my daughter she took time out and she was there with my son and watched him while I was in the hospital,” she said. “[Patricia] was crazy about my first two children. They were her heart. She loved them.”
To go through the trial a second time doesn’t make it easier. Natasha said it just becomes “bearable.”
“Now [relatives of Patricia Leeper are] at a point where they can be here and they’re going to try to attend the trial as much as possible,” said the detective.
The family will sit through two more days of testimonies until jurors make a decision.
