Inmate indicted in claimed murder-for-hire plot against federal judge
Phillip Monroe Ballard still hasn’t been tried on the federal charges he faces for allegedly holding himself out as a lawyer and advising others that they don’t have to pay income tax.
But on the front burner, it appears, is the murder-solicitation prosecution the Texas inmate is facing for allegedly plotting a contract hit on the federal judge who was then presiding over the Northern District tax case.
Charged last year with soliciting the murder of U.S. District Judge John McBryde, the 71-year-old Ballard was indicted Wednesday for trying to arranging the killing of an unidentified federal judge. Although an FBI press release does not name the targeted judge at issue in the latest charge, a WFAA story says it is McBryde.
The Dallas Morning News Crime Blog and an FBI press release from last year provide additional details.
