An Onondaga County judge has thrown out an indictment against former Cicero school teacher James Ball in the Fourth of July 2017 shooting death of his brother-in-law. County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller did not stop prosecutors from seeking a new indictment. , defense lawyer Michael Spano said. The 55-year-old Ball is charged with shooting to death 40-year-old Christopher Ross, during an argument inside Ball's home in 2017. Spano pushed for the indictment to be dismissed because he felt certain information pointing to the self-defense claim was not properly heard by a grand jury.