Victim's Heartland
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

2 posters

Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by NiteSpinR Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:28 am

Sep 5, 2013

It's a two-year-old murder mystery headed to trial on Monday.
UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte 11093
Gerard Lopes is accused of murdering his adoptive mother, 43-year-old Natalie Belmonte, in July 2011. On Wednesday a motion in limiting hearing was held in which state prosecutors asked that DNA proving motive for murder be admissible.

The state claims Lopes’ semen was found in Belmonte and that he raped and killed his mother. The autopsy showed the semen matched Lopes’ DNA, but Lopes’ attorneys argue it's not relevant because the sexual relationship was consensual.

The state alleges the sexual assault is motive for the murder. It called a DNA expert to the stand, Dr. Martin Tracey, who testified the level of integrity of the DNA found shows the semen was deposited at the time of the murder.

"We know from other kinds of studies that I'm familiar with and teach at the university, the survival time for semen is about 3 to 5 days,” Tracey said.

Police said security video from a neighbor’s house shows Belmonte and Lopes leaving in the same car and stopping at a Walgreens before heading to a party. The car returns with both individuals around 2:48 a.m. A short time later Lopes is seen dragging a bag across the driveway and loading bags into the trunk. Belmonte's body would be found three days later near their Pembroke Pines home.

Lopes has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.

During the motion in limiting hearing, prosecutors called Belmonte's sister Michaela Teixeira to the stand and asked point blank about the possibility of a consensual sexual relationship.

"There's absolutely no way she had consensual sexual relationship with her son,” she said.

To give the statement punch, prosecutors detailed a normal, loving mother-son relationship showing Teixeira letters between the two, birthday and Mother's Day cards. Teixeira read from a card – one that if Lopes is proven guilty – could serve as an eerie message from the grave.
"Gerry I'm very proud of the man that you are becoming. Always remember the choices you make today determine the outcome of your future,” she said, reading from the card.


Funeral Held for Slain Pines Woman
At the hearing Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry ordered two prerequisites. If the state can establish a sexual relationship has serious negative consequences on Lopes, and secondly that the semen was deposited at or near the time of death, he'll admit the evidence. He also warned that if the state presents the argument into opening statements, but fails to prove relevance, he'll grant a mistrial.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Last edited by NiteSpinR on Tue May 06, 2014 1:53 am; edited 2 times in total
NiteSpinR
NiteSpinR
Tech Support Admin
Tech  Support  Admin

Join date : 2009-05-30

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty Opening Statements Are Scheduled To Begin Monday 9/9/2013

Post by NiteSpinR Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:20 am

September 7, 2013

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of a Pembroke Pines man accused of killing his adoptive mother, and prosecutors are now saying the crime was even more heinous than previously revealed.

Gerard Lopes Belmonte, 23, is charged with murdering his first cousin Natalie Belmonte, 43, who adopted him in 2000 when he was 10 years old. Now prosecutors are saying that the first-degree murder was committed to cover up another crime – rape.

Assistant Public Defender Jose Reyes, who's representing the defendant, asked Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry last week to bar prosecutors from mentioning evidence that Belmonte's semen was found inside his adoptive mother's body. According to Reyes, the presence of semen does not prove non-consensual sex, and without that proof, there's no way to conclude his client killed to cover up a rape.

But prosecutor Adriana Alcalde-Padron told Destry there's no indication the two were involved in a consensual relationship.

Destry ruled that Alcalde-Padron can use the evidence and doesn't have to show the sex was consensual. It's enough, he said, for prosecutors to demonstrate that Belmonte would have wanted to cover up evidence of a sexual relationship, whether or not consent was part of that relationship.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
NiteSpinR
NiteSpinR
Tech Support Admin
Tech  Support  Admin

Join date : 2009-05-30

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by NiteSpinR Tue May 06, 2014 1:51 am

October 16, 2013

A Broward judge said Gerard Lopes Belmonte resembles the "portrait of a true sociopath" for not showing remorse or emotion after raping and killing his adoptive mother and dumping her body in a swamp.

On Wednesday, Lopes was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

He showed no emotion.

The sentencing ends the court case that reignited the anguish of the family of Natalie Belmonte, who was Lopes' first cousin but who also adopted him in 2000 after his father died in their native Guyana.

A jury convicted Lopes last month of second-degree murder in a case that showed how the family that adopted him was betrayed. A real estate agent in Weston, Belmonte, 43, had two biological children, a daughter and son who looked at Lopes as a big brother.

Family members and friends rejoiced and cried as Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry announced the sentencing.

"It has been a nightmare for our family," said Alex Teixeira, Belmonte's brother-in-law. "There are no words to express the depth of our sorrow over the loss of Natalie."

David Eiglarsh, who worked with Belmonte, said the death penalty would've been too lenient.

"It would've been too easy for him," Eiglarsh said. "He needs to suffer."

During the trail, prosecutors presented evidence that Lopes and Belmonte attended a graduation party for a mutual friend on July 16, 2011. They arrived home at 2:49 the next morning.

At some point after they got home, Lopes attacked Belmonte, according to prosecutors. His semen was later found in her body, and the victim's sister testified that the only way it could have gotten there was against Belmonte's will.

Prosecutors said Lopes was the man seen on a neighbor's surveillance video loading Belmonte's body into the trunk of her Lexus and driving off before dawn on July 17, 2011. Belmonte's body was found three days later in a wooded area less than a mile from their home. Lopes was charged the same day.

Before issuing the sentencing, Destry said the case was filled with some of the most disturbing evidence and testimony he's witnessed as a judge.

"I found the trial difficult, the facts disturbing," he said. "I can assure you I have heard and seen disturbing things in my life."

Destry also noted Lopes' young age, but said Lopes' actions against the woman who took care of him were reprehensible.

"The thing I found the most alarming, was the total lack of human compassion and no feelings of remorse by Mr. Lopes," Destry said. "You dump her naked body in a swamp and you don't even have the decency to cover her up." Destry summed up his characterization of Lopes' actions as that of a "true sociopath."

While most of the family members appeared emotional after the hearing, they declined to comment directly about Lopes and his sentence.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
NiteSpinR
NiteSpinR
Tech Support Admin
Tech  Support  Admin

Join date : 2009-05-30

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty Re: UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by Wrapitup Tue May 06, 2014 10:07 am

From above:
David Eiglarsh, who worked with Belmonte, said the death penalty would've been too lenient.

"It would've been too easy for him," Eiglarsh said. "He needs to suffer."

That speaks Volumes. IMHO, I think spending life locked up, especially if one is relatively young, is a harsher sentence.
Wrapitup
Wrapitup
Founder
Founder

Join date : 2009-05-28

https://victimsheartland.forumotion.com/forum.htm

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty Re: UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by NiteSpinR Wed May 07, 2014 12:44 am

I agree!
NiteSpinR
NiteSpinR
Tech Support Admin
Tech  Support  Admin

Join date : 2009-05-30

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty Re: UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by Wrapitup Wed May 07, 2014 2:15 pm

Yup..but I still want  STABBY  to get the dp.
Wrapitup
Wrapitup
Founder
Founder

Join date : 2009-05-28

https://victimsheartland.forumotion.com/forum.htm

Back to top Go down

UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte Empty Re: UPDATE: Gerard Lopes Belmonte Receives Life Sentence For The Rape And Murder Of His Adoptive Mother Natalie Belmonte

Post by Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum