EVANSTON — A registered sex offender who was to have no contact with children has been sentenced to 4-10 years of incarceration for child abuse for an incident that occurred in October 2020. Jacob D. Balli, 23, was on probation for an attempted sexual assault of a minor that occurred in Utah when the 2-year-old child of his girlfriend suffered severe burn injuries necessitating a LifeFlight from Evanston Regional Hospital to the University of Utah burn unit.
According to court documents, Balli and his then girlfriend transported her 2-year-old child to ERH on Oct. 16, 2020, with serious injuries that were suspicious for child abuse. Evanston Police Department officers were dispatched to the hospital and an affidavit states the child’s “face was burned from eyes to chin.” The child was also missing a patch of hair from their head, had a black eye and also had bruises to the face and ears and abrasions to the back, chest and neck.
Upon questioning, Balli and his girlfriend, who had only begun dating approximately a month prior, gave conflicting accounts of what happened and where, with Balli stating he had been giving the child a bath when the child turned the water to hot when he had left the room. The child’s mother, however, initially stated she had been the one giving the child a bath when the water had been turned to hot.
Court documents indicate the two also gave conflicting accounts to family members about what had occurred. During later interviews, the child’s mother stated she had lied about what had happened because the incident had occurred at her father’s house while she herself was at work and she was not supposed to allow her boyfriends to be in her father’s home unaccompanied.
In interviews with Balli, he continued to insist the child had been burned by hot water in the bathtub; however, law enforcement officers informed him the water at the home had been tested and did not reach temperatures hot enough to inflict the type of burns the child had suffered. Balli then made comments in which he claimed officers were accusing him of boiling water and putting it on the child’s face with a rag, even though law enforcement had made no such suggestion.
Balli was charged with two counts of child abuse, including a count of torture of a child. According to Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson-Kallas, the case was scheduled for trial but instead Balli entered a “cold plea” of guilty to one count of child abuse. A cold plea is one in which a defendant pleads guilty in the absence of a plea agreement with the state, hoping to receive a lesser sentence from a judge than one reached through a prosecuting attorney.
Howieson-Kallas said the state had argued for a sentence of 8-10 years to run consecutively to a sentence of 0-5 years for the attempted sexual assault in Utah, for which he had already served the minimum sentence but had violated terms of his probation by leaving the state and by being in the presence of a minor child. He was in custody in Utah when extradited to Uinta County due to the child abuse charges. The defense in the case argued for a suspended sentence with probation.
Third District Court Judge Joseph Bluemel imposed the sentence of 4-10 years to be served following any sentence in Utah.
Howieson-Kallas said there have been several cold pleas by defendants in court recently and she anticipates there being more “as Judge Bluemel is issuing sentences that are far better (for the offender) than anything I offer on plea.” She said she also anticipates federal charges being filed against Balli related to sex offender registration violations.
