Jack Ball was sentenced to life without parole for murdering his pregnant sister, Bethany Ann Israel, after a judge rejected his mental-illness defense.

Thursday's life-without-parole term is the mandatory sentence the county attorney's office said follows a premeditated first-degree murder conviction. The facts of the killing were narrowed in January, when Ball pleaded guilty and then asked the judge to find he was mentally ill at the time. Tuesday's ruling rejected that defense, and Thursday's hearing imposed the sentence.

Jack Joseph Ball, 25, was sentenced Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, to life in prison without parole on two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the May 23, 2024, death of his sister, Bethany Ann Israel, 30, of Bloomington, and her unborn child, CBS Minnesota reported, citing the Dakota County Attorney's Office. KSTP also reported the life-without-parole sentence, citing court records. Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a statement, "The defendant's actions were profoundly disturbing and incomprehensible in their cruelty. His conduct has devastated countless lives and inflicted trauma on our communities," CBS Minnesota reported. She also offered condolences to Israel's family and friends. CBS Minnesota reported Ball remains at the Dakota County Jail and will later be transferred to the Department of Corrections.

A Dakota County judge on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, found Jack Joseph Ball, 25, guilty of premeditated first-degree murder and premeditated first-degree murder of an unborn child in the May 2024 death of his sister, Bethany Ann Israel, 30, and her unborn child, MN Crime reported, citing the Dakota County Attorney's Office. CBS Minnesota also reported the guilty finding Tuesday. Judge Bryce A.D. Ehrman issued the verdict after a court trial, so a judge rather than a jury decided what was left of the case, MN Crime reported. Sentencing was set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Hastings. The county attorney's office has said a conviction for premeditated first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, MN Crime reported. CBS Minnesota reported that a first-degree murder conviction in Minnesota carries a mandatory life sentence.

The case had two phases, the county attorney's office said, according to MN Crime. Ball pleaded guilty on Jan. 21 to both first-degree counts. He then raised a mental-illness defense, and the judge found he had not met his burden of proving it. CBS Minnesota described the same plea and the same two counts, and reported that the mental-illness claim did not succeed, but it placed that failure in January. The county attorney's account, as MN Crime reported it Tuesday, is that the judge's rejection of the defense is the verdict announced Tuesday. This story follows the county attorney's timeline for when the defense failed.

Israel, of Bloomington, had gone to Ball's home on Encina Path in Lakeville for dinner on May 23, 2024, CBS Minnesota reported, citing the criminal complaint. Family members called 911 when she did not come home. A relative drove to the house, saw Ball leaving, went inside, saw a large amount of blood and called police, the complaint says. An officer found bloody knives and several dismembered body parts inside, CBS Minnesota reported. The county attorney's office said the same thing in a May 2024 release. Police later found Ball in a backyard in Rosemount after a resident reported seeing a man, on a doorbell camera, place what looked like a body part on the lawn, CBS Minnesota reported. He had a neck injury that looked self-inflicted, the county attorney's office said in that 2024 release. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988.

The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled that Israel died of complex homicidal violence and that she was 17 to 18 weeks pregnant, the county attorney's office said. CBS Minnesota spelled her first name Beth Ann. The county attorney's office, KSTP and MN Crime have used Bethany Ann Israel. KSTP, citing court documents, reported that police found writing in which Ball said he was angry his sister was pregnant because she was "no longer innocent." That is an account of what investigators said they found in his writing. It is not a quotation from Tuesday's hearing. Ball remains in the Dakota County Jail, MN Crime reported. Tuesday's finding was the judge's verdict on the charges, and Thursday's hearing imposed the sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.