 The indictment alleges that Ballard, who was scheduled to go on trial for tax charges before Judge McBryde, approached another inmate about killing Judge McBryde because Ballard believed that McBryde would sentence him to 20 years in prison.The inmate reported Ballard's statement to prison officials and began working as a confidential source for the FBI.The inmate told Ballard that he knew a man on the outside who would do it, upon which Ballard offered to pay the inmate $100,000 in cash and provided him with detailed instructions, such as how it could be done with a high-powered rifle and scope, and even provided a contingency plan of planting a bomb in the judge's vehicle to the inmate.