Trial begins for final defendant in Samantha Payne torture death
The death penalty trial of the final defendant accused in the kidnapping and torture death of Samantha Payne has begun.
Michael Belcher is the last of five people suspected of killing the Maplesville woman and leaving her body tied to a tree in the Talladega National Forest.
Belcher, 34, offered to plead guilty for a sentence of life in prison before jury selection began last week, but prosecutors refused and went forward with the trial Friday.
He’s charged with capital murder and kidnapping.
The squirrel hunter who found Payne’s’ body, Payne’s mother Susi and Belcher’s ex-girlfriend Chylli Bruce testified before court broke for lunch.
Police say Payne endured beatings for several hours before she was tied to a tree, cut in the throat and killed in rural Tuscaloosa County. Squirrel hunters found her body tied to the tree off South Sandy Road in the Talladega National Forest on Nov. 9, 2015. Investigators believe her body had been there for at least a week. Her skull was found a few feet away on the ground.
Steven George, Michael Belcher and his girlfriend Chylli Bruce were the first three suspects charged with capital murder in the days after the discovery of Payne’s body. Alyssa Watson and Marcus George were initially charged with kidnapping, but a grand jury heard the evidence and indicted them both on murder charges.
After turning down settlement offers in exchange for truthful testimony, Watson and Marcus George went before a jury during a joint trial in November. They were found guilty of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Both maintain their innocence and have appealed the convictions, asking for new trials.
Steven George pleaded guilty days before their trial, agreeing to a sentence of life in prison in exchange for his testimony. Chylli Bruce pleaded guilty in the weeks following the arrest, and has spent time in drug rehab as part of her probation requirements.
Investigators believe the suspects were using methamphetamine when Steven George, Marcus George and Watson took Payne’s keys and left with her car. The burned car was later found in Bibb County.
Bruce told police that Payne became angry when she realized her car was missing. Belcher then threw Payne to the floor and began to kick and punch her, police and prosecutors believe.
Authorities believe that Steven George, Belcher and Bruce went to Belcher’s home, where they continued to assault Payne. They say that Payne was then transported to Watson’s family property on Haysop Church Road, where they found a cut coaxial cable. Payne’s hands and feet were bound with a coaxial cable, a shoestring and a belt.
Bruce testified in the November trial that she and Watson pulled Payne’s fingernails off with a knife while she was hogtied and saying she loved them.
https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/...-torture-death
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