Harrisburg man convicted of murder claims innocence, says another man confessed to the slaying

If Tyshaunt Love killed his ex-girlfriend, why did someone else reportedly confess to the slaying?

And why didn’t the Dauphin County jury that convicted Love know this?

An attorney for the Harrisburg man convicted of the 1996 murder of Iris Fennell Belcher will ask for a new trial today, based on what he believes was insufficient evidence presented to the jury at trial.

*”I don’t know if he did it or didn’t do it,” said Justin McShane, who is representing Love in his appeal. “But I know this: That jury didn’t get all the information. All he and I are asking for is to make it fair.”*

Love, 35, has spent the last five years in prison since a jury convicted him of third-degree murder in September 2005, nearly a decade after Belcher was killed.

Belcher, 20, a mother of one, was found shot to death Dec. 20, 1996, in her McCleaster Street home in Harrisburg’s Allison Hill neighborhood.

Love was sentenced by Dauphin County Judge Bruce Bratton to 15 to 30 years in prison.

At trial, prosecutors painted Love as an abusive, jealous ex-lover who sought revenge after Belcher threw him out of the house. They also said he continually changed his story about where he was and what he was doing the night she was killed.

After the verdict, county Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean McCormack said he was 100 percent sure authorities got the right guy. McCormack said he’s still convinced.

*But to McShane, the evidence points more directly to La-Qun Williams.*

Williams, who is serving up to 67 years in state prison for beating, raping and slashing the throat of a Harrisburg woman in December 1995, had Belcher’s blood on his Timberland boots, according to testimony at Love’s trial.

Meanwhile, there is no blood evidence connecting Love to the murder scene.

Harrisburg police interviews provided to The Patriot-News show Williams confessed to killing Belcher to at least two inmates while in prison.

*McShane alleges Williams might have had more of a motive to kill Belcher because Williams believed she tipped police off to his whereabouts after the 1995 rape. At the time of Belcher’s death, Williams was on the lam.*

*”Snitching and giving someone 25-plus years. That is an extremely good motive to kill,” McShane said.*

Messages left with Williams’ attorney were not returned for this story. Dauphin County prison officials said an attorney must give permission for an inmate to speak with the media. Williams is expected to testify at today’s 1:30 p.m. hearing on the request for a new trial.

Williams, 38, initially was considered a suspect, but authorities never had enough evidence to charge him, McCormack said. Prosecutors said they believe he was at Belcher’s house the night she was killed but did not participate in her death.

The blood on Williams’ boots could have resulted from his walking through the house after the killing, McCormack said.

h3. Reported confessions

Five years before Love was charged, a Harrisburg detective interviewed state prison inmate Keith Herndon, who said Williams admitted he killed Belcher, according to a voluntary statement Herndon gave police Sept. 19, 2000.

“[Williams’] … exact words was that he did that and that he should have done this girl Candy like he did … Iris,” the documents state.

When pressed for details of the killing, Herndon said: “[Williams] just said that he shot her, he shot her and I guess he beat her up. Yeah, he beat her up.”

Another inmate incarcerated with Williams was interviewed by Harrisburg police 10 days later and pointed the finger at Williams.

Carlos C. Hill, a friend of Belcher, told police he was in a booking cell next to Williams when he asked him about the homicide, according to the documents.

“At first, he did not want to talk about it,” it reads. “But then [Williams] said to me he don’t know why he did it. I asked him why would he do that to Iris? He said to me he don’t know. He was high.”

Neither of these purported confessions was told to the jury during Love’s weeklong trial. Neither Herndon nor Hill was called to testify.

Love’s attorneys at the time, Dauphin County Chief Public Defender Paul W. Muller and Assistant Public Defender Nathan C. Giunta, were not able to get Williams released from a New York state prison for the trial. Williams was serving a sentence in that state for an unrelated crime.

Without Williams there to corroborate the confessions, the evidence would have been inadmissible, Giunta testified at a hearing in April. McCormack agreed and added that Hill gave a conflicting statement later in 2002 that was more in line with the state’s case against Love.

Another Dauphin County inmate, Corey Alston, said Love told him in prison he was innocent but pressed him for an alibi the night Belcher was killed, according to a voluntary statement he gave police Sept. 13, 2001.

Muller and Giunta declined to comment for this story, saying it would be inappropriate to comment before today’s hearing. Muller is expected to testify today.

*Giunta, who was not the lead counsel, was asked by McShane why the state’s Uniform Act, which is used to compel witnesses in other states to testify, wasn’t used to bring Williams into court. Giunta said he wasn’t aware of it, according to transcripts from an earlier appeals hearing.*

McCormack said the confessions constitute hearsay evidence and would not have been admissible in court.

*McShane agreed the statements would have been hearsay unless Herndon, Hill or Williams was brought in to testify. He said they should have been called as witnesses.*

*”People don’t go around confessing to murders on a whim, especially if someone has already been arrested for them,” McShane said. “The other guy is in custody. He’s been charged. You just keep your mouth shut and get away with murder. Instead you confess to two strangers who are not interconnected. What’s the coincidence of that?”*

h3. A reluctant witness

Another controversial aspect of the case was the state’s key witness who didn’t show up for trial. Instead, prosecutors used Guillermina Cruz’s 3-year-old testimony to a grand jury to brand Love as the killer.

Like Love, Cruz had a history of giving conflicting reports. At times, she said she witnessed the slaying, but other times she denied knowing anything about it. She’s also said Williams was upstairs with Love when the shooting happened.

When subpoenaed to appear as a witness, Cruz ducked a police dragnet and had officers scrambling to find her. Without Cruz’s testimony, prosecutors would have had only circumstantial evidence against Love.

Being a no-show at the trial wasn’t the only time Cruz caused headaches for police and prosecutors. Love was arrested nine days after the killing, but prosecutors were forced to drop the case 18 months later after Cruz, then 16, refused to testify.

In the grand jury testimony, which was read to the jury, Cruz said she went with Love to Belcher’s home the morning of the slaying. Love admitted to police they spent the previous night together, but he said they parted ways that morning.

Cruz testified she watched Love drag Belcher up the stairs while he pistol-whipped her. She heard a struggle and a thump and then saw Love fire toward the floor, Cruz testified.

Cruz could not be located for this story. A message left at her most recent phone number was not returned, and no one answered the door at her listed residence in Harrisburg.

Prosecutors are convinced Cruz was at Belcher’s house the day of the killing, McCormack said. “She told us things that matched the crime scene,” he said. “She had to be there.”

h3. Opening a wound

Love said he would never do anything to hurt Belcher.

He said he was watching a movie at a friend’s house the night before she was killed. He said he returned home about noon the next day and discovered Belcher’s body.

“I am innocent. I’m actually innocent,” Love said in a brief phone interview from the Dauphin County Prison. “I just feel there were a lot of things that didn’t come out in the trial. If I had a new trial, a lot of facts and evidence would come out that shows and proves that I did not commit the crime.”

Meanwhile, Love’s appeal doesn’t sit well with the victim’s mother. Charlena Belcher called it “an insult to Iris’ memory” and said Love has a lot of nerve.

Belcher said her daughter had just been accepted into Harrisburg Area Community College’s nursing program, had paid her fee and was ready to start classes when she was killed.

Right after her daughter died, Belcher said she attempted suicide twice. She’s become better at coping, but she said not a day passes when she doesn’t think about her.

Charlena Belcher is hoping Love isn’t granted a new trial.

“As soon as I heard his name, everything came back and hit me like a hammer,” she said. “It’s been a nightmare, and it’s never going to end.”

If you’re looking for professionally aggressive representation, contact The McShane Firm today and put Harrisburg’s most highly-trained attorneys in your corner. WE FIGHT!