Lawyer’s Son Pleads No Contest in Gun Case

The son of a prominent lawyer pleaded no contest Wednesday to drug and weapons possession charges, a year after he made a controversial deal with prosecutors in a gun case.

Brian Patrick Ballou, 27, is expected to be sentenced May 3 to 16 months in prison for possession of marijuana for sale and possession of an assault weapon, Los Angeles Superior Court officials said.

Ballou, son of retired lawyer Robert B. Ballou, remains in jail on $125,000 bail, court officials said.

Ballou was on probation for violating laws prohibiting ex-convicts from carrying weapons when he was arrested March 31.

The charges filed against him included possession of two semiautomatic assault rifles and a shotgun, three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, and three counts involving possession, cultivation or furnishing marijuana.

Police made the arrest after they stopped Ballou for driving with a burned-out taillight. When they discovered he was on probation, they searched him and found a small amount of marijuana.

They then found more marijuana and the weapons, which were loaded, at his home, police said.

In 1996, police booked Ballou on a charge of assault with a firearm, which could have carried a prison term of up to 17 years. But top district attorney’s officials rejected a prosecutor’s strong recommendation to file the charge. Instead, they agreed to a plea bargain that allowed Ballou to serve only four days in jail and receive probation, despite his past probation violations.

Ballou’s father is a longtime friend of county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles). Ballou’s lawyers, the firm of Ivie, McNeill & Wyatt, are major campaign contributors to Burke. All of them, as well as Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, denied that political influence affected the case.

It meandered through the courts for two years and involved some of Garcetti’s senior assistants. At one point, Burke called Garcetti about the case, and a member of her staff called one of his senior assistants.