True Crime Chronicles: Man who punched and killed Fort Smith baby in 2022 doing 50-years in prison
- Dennis McCaslin
- May 21, 2025
- 2 min read
On January 20, 2022, Fort Smith police responded to a 911 call at a home in the 4100 block of North 50th Street, where they found Jared Lee Ball, then 32, with three children, including 1-year-old M.C., who was not breathing.
Despite efforts by Emergency Medical Services, M.C. was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital at 9:09 a.m.
The Sebastian County Medical Examiner determined the child’s death was a homicide caused by multiple injuries, including a forceful blow to the chest that lacerated the heart, leading to fatal hemorrhage.
Bruises on M.C.’s ribcage indicated violent shaking on January 19, 2022. Medical experts ruled out accidental causes or the possibility that another young child caused the injuries.
Ball, the boyfriend of M.C.’s mother, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder of a person under 14, felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance (nearly 40 grams of kratom, illegal in Arkansas), and possession of drug paraphernalia.
M.C.’s mother reported to police that Ball had a history of physical abuse, including punching her ribcage and choking her seven weeks before M.C.’s death.
She also stated Ball had threatened to kill her.
On September 14, 2023, Ball was sentenced in Sebastian County Circuit Court as a habitual offender. He was sentenced in total to 170 years but the sentences were set to run concurrently, meaning he was actually given 50 years in the ADC.
He received 600 months (50 years) for first-degree murder, 180 months for third-degree domestic battery, 180 months for aggravated assault on a family or household member, 480 months for possession of a controlled substance (Schedule I or II, excluding methamphetamine or cocaine, 28g-200g), and 600 months for attempted first-degree battery.
Ball, now 36, has been incarcerated six times with the Arkansas Department of Correction since 2009 for crimes including possession of a firearm by certain persons, failure to appear, and breaking and entering.
At the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern, Arkansas, he has a C5 custody classification, a good time class of IV, and a parole eligibility date of January 19, 2072.
His prison record includes disciplinary violations such as self-mutilation, lying to staff, battery, insolence, threats, and throwing substances, with incidents as recent as March 2025.
