The fate of a Norfolk County man who has admitted causing the death of Michael Shawn Murray will be decided in February 2026.

Robert Lee Ballard, 32, who was charged with second-degree murder in Murray’s death, will return to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for judgment on Feb. 12.

“This has been a very, very difficult case and I really appreciate the way people have approached this,” Justice Aubrey Hilliard said after hearing final submissions on Friday. “It has been very helpful to me and respectful to the many, many people here.”

Ballard was charged after Murray’s body was found by his parents in his King Street, Delhi home on March 30, 2021. They had gone to check up on their son after he hadn’t responded to their calls.

A postmortem found that Murray, 54, died of blunt force

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