TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) – A judge has sentenced an Alabama man to die for the killing of a woman who authorities say was tortured to death.
Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge Brad Almond imposed the death penalty on 34-year-old Michael Belcher during a hearing Wednesday.
Belcher was convicted of capital murder last month in the slaying of 29-year-old Samantha Payne.
Evidence showed Payne was beaten for hours in November 2015. Her throat was cut and she was tied naked to a tree and left in the Talladega National Forest.
Prosecutors say Belcher was the ringleader of a group of five people who killed Payne while using methamphetamine. He’s the only one who got the death penalty.