Belton also received seven years for an armed robbery of a Clark gas station in Huber Heights in April 2013. He was a fugitive until December 2014 when the U.S. Marshals located him in Tennessee and brought him to the Montgomery County Jail.
Belton, who earned 261 days of jail-time credit, will have no chance of early release and agreed to waive any appeals. Judge Dennis Adkins ordered him to pay $2,891.01 in restitution to Williams’ family and $837 to the gas station.
“I am satisfied,” said Williams’ daughter, Tiarra, who spoke in court about her young daughter not getting to meet her grandfather. “Ultimately, a lot of people who lose their family members in such a tragic way, they don’t get to get the justice that we were able to receive today.
“I feel like some bricks have just been released from my heart. Like I really feel like I have received closure and I feel like my family is going to get some peace.”
Belton originally was indicted on several counts, including four murder charges. But Daniel Brandt, a Montgomery County assistant prosecutor, said the only other witnesses were members of Belton’s family, making a plea agreement to a bill of information the best outcome.
“In this particular case, the state ran into some pretty big difficulties when it came to witness cooperation, when it came to finding out really the truth of what happened inside of this apartment,” Brandt said. “We’re just thankful we were able to get justice of some sort for this family.”
Tiarra Williams said her father won’t be able to share in her December 2015 graduation from the University of Dayton, but he did get to brag to everybody for two weeks before he died that his daughter was going to have a child.
“My daughter Kennedy is 2 years old and she has been my strength and my happiness during this tragic and unexpected loss,” she said. “But every time she reaches new milestones, I am reminded that I can’t laugh and smile with my dad about them. I won’t ever get to call or see him ever again. And it hurts that my baby won’t get a chance to have such a great experience that awaited her and was stolen so soon.”
On July 1, a jury found Belton guilty of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon for the holdup of the Clark gas station. Belton, armed with a shotgun, ordered a woman to the floor and told the male clerk to give him money and cigarettes, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
When the clerk didn’t move fast enough, Belton said he would “blast him,” the memo said. Belton ordered the woman into a cooler. The clerk was able to shut and lock the door, hit the alarm button and stay in the cooler until police arrived. “His actions were violent and caused two victims to suffer through fear of possibly dying,” the memo said of Belton.
UPDATE @10:45 a.m. (Sept. 4)
Emanuel Belton pleaded guilty this morning to involuntary manslaughter and will serve 11 years in prison on that charge. He was also sentenced to seven years for a separate armed robbery charge, making his total sentence 18 years. No judicial release is possible, officials said.
UPDATE @ 3:56 p.m.
Emanuel Belton has been indicted on four counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated burglary in connection to a homicide on Eastbrook Drive in Miami Twp. On Jan. 28, 2013.
Belton is being held in the Montgomery County Jail after his January arrest in Tennessee.
FIRST REPORT
Police and the family of a man killed in Miami Twp more than a year ago are seeking the public’s help in locating the suspect in his death.
Emanuel Belton is wanted for the death of Terrance M. Williams, police said.
Belton was identified by witnesses as the suspect after Williams was gunned down at 9360 Eastbrook Dr. on Jan. 28, 2013. In a news conference Tuesday morning, police said they’ve “exhausted several different avenues and several different agencies” and are asking for the public’s help to find Belton.
Williams daughter, Tiarra Williams, said at Tuesday’s news conference that she grew up across the street from Belton.
“I’m ready to just find peace, I’m ready to just have closure, and move forward with raising my daughter, but it’s so hard when we don’t have justice yet,” Tiarra Williams said.
Police said someone followed Williams into his fiancé’s apartment and shot him multiple times. Belton has been at the top of the police department’s suspect list. He was a former neighbor with a lengthy criminal background and now he’s facing murder charges. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The death stemmed from “a domestic situation that was blown out of proportion,” police said. Law enforcement considers him a “very dangerous and violent person.”
Miami Twp. Police are spearheading the search for Belton, and have enlisted the help of other law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
Police are not sure if he’s still in the area, and encourage anyone with information about the whereabouts of Emanuel Belton is urged to call Miami Twp. Police. Anyone helping Belton will be charged with obstruction of justice, police said.
Tiarra Williams said the pain of losing her father is still raw. “He was a really good dad, he was very supportive, he was very very supportive,” Tiarra Williams said.
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