USA - Alabama. Judge Brad Almond sentenced Michael Belcher to death

Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Brad Almond followed a March 18 (see) jury’s recommendation and sentenced Michael Belcher, 34, White, to death for his role in the torture and beating death of Samantha Payne. Payne endured hours of beatings from a group of friends who were all using methamphetamine at Belcher’s father’s motorcycle repair shop in Centreville the night of Nov. 2, 2015. Her throat had been cut while she was tied to an ironwood tree and she was left to die in a remote area of the Talladega National Forest. Prosecutors said Belcher was the ringleader who encouraged the beatings from the others, saying they believe he is the one who cut her throat after she was tied, naked, to the tree.