Kenneth Belcher was sentenced in April 2002 to 20 years behind bars for the Nov. 17, 2000, shooting death of Kenny Wyatt. A second individual, Anthony Jerome Carter, was also injured in the same incident.
Belcher was convicted of wanton murder in a four day jury trial in Bell County Court. Shortly after his conviction, he filed a motion, which was the subject of the appeal, alleging that he had been deprived of effective assistance of trial counsel.
Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals stated that in denying his motion for an appeal, the trial judge concluded that the claims supporting Belcher's allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel were either conclusively refuted by the record or related to matters which were irrelevant to the charges against him.
In Nov. 2000, Carter and Wyatt were leaving Belcher's residence after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase marijuana. At the trial, Belcher did not deny firing a shotgun in the direction of the two men or that those shots caused wounds suffered by each victim. He did allege that his actions had been taken in self-defense.
Belcher is currently serving his 20 year sentence in prison.
Staff Report
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