Muskogee, Oklahoma – The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma has announced the sentencing of Colby Eric Dean Ballard, a 29-year-old resident of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Ballard received a 30-month prison sentence for one count of assaulting a spouse, intimate partner, and dating partner in Indian Country.
The charge resulted from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muskogee Police Department. On March 21, 2024, Ballard pleaded guilty to the charge. Investigators reported that on April 4, 2023, Ballard assaulted the victim by strangling them and inflicting injuries to their face, head, wrist, and stomach. The incident took place in Muskogee County within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The hearing was presided over by U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Ballard will remain in custody under the U.S. Marshals Service until he is transported to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve his non-paroleable sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick M. Flanigan and Edith Singer represented the United States in this case.
