As jurors at the murder trial of Michael Ball continue their deliberations at the Kitchener courthouse, they know that they have been given four possible outcomes to weigh.

In his instructions to the jury, Justice Gerry Taylor said that they could find Ball guilty of first-degree murder – the charge he is facing – but could also find him guilty of the less severe offences of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

The fourth option before jurors is to find Ball not guilty of any of those offences.

Ball is accused of murdering Erin Howlett, whose remains were found in a duffel bag in the Grand River in July 2013, eight days after she went missing.

His trial has heard that the two had been dating only weeks before Howlett’s disappearance, but hit a rough patch when Ball discovered sexual images of another man on Howlett’s phone.

Ball maintains that while he was angry at Howlett and much of his life during that period of time was a “blur” due to drug use, he did not kill her.

Murder vs. manslaughter

Manslaughter and the two degrees of murder carry with them different penalties and different connotations.

First-degree murder is the most serious of the three offences jurors were told they could find Ball guilty of.

To reach a conviction of first-degree murder, jurors must agree that not only did Ball kill Howlett, but it was a deliberate and planned killing.

If jurors decide that Ball killed Howlett, but it was not planned in advance, they would return with a verdict of second-degree murder.

A manslaughter conviction would still mean that Ball’s actions caused Howlett’s death, but that they were not intentional or planned out ahead of time.

To convict Ball on any of those offences, jurors must unanimously believe that his guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sentencing options

In Canada, a first-degree murder conviction carries with it an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for 25 years.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Ball would still receive an automatic life sentence. His parole eligibility could be set anywhere between 10 and 25 years, at the discretion of the judge.

There is no minimum sentence for a manslaughter conviction, but the maximum sentence in Canada is life imprisonment.

How long will it take?

Friday marked the third day of deliberations for jurors at the Ball trial.

There is no set amount of time a jury must deliberate for before reaching a verdict, and no set amount of time without a verdict after which the judge will declare a mistrial.

The most recent murder trial in our area also involved a jury trial.

Jurors were in their fourth day of deliberations at the Stratford courthouse when they found Michael Schweitzer guilty of second-degree murder and assault with a weapon in connection with the shootings of Nicole Wagler and Tyler Baker.

Schweitzer had been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, but the jury opted to convict him on lesser charges.

Last March, Xhevahir Myftari was found guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing death of his sister-in-law Julia Vlashi by jurors in Guelph, who had just begun their third day of deliberations. He had been charged with second-degree murder.

Waterloo Region’s most recent jury rendered its decision one week before the Myftari verdict, when it found David Thomas guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Denise Bourdeau – the same offence he had been charged with.

In that case, jurors were again in the early part of their third day of deliberations.