Bellew found guilty of capital murder in 2016 Riddles Bend burglary-homicide

Jurors on Friday found Hunter Dewayne Bellew guilty in the rifle slaying of a Rainbow City man in November 2016.

Bellew was found guilty of capital murder — of fatally shooting Tony McCartney, 50, in his bed in his home in Riddles Bend while burglarizing the residence.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in the case, leaving life in prison without parole as the only option for Bellew’s sentence.

Etowah County Circuit Judge Sonny Steen set sentencing for June 23.

“The actions of Hunter Bellew, to me, are what nightmares are made of,” Etowah County District Attorney Jody Willoughby said. “You’ve got Tony McCartney, out there on his own piece of paradise,” at his home, with the lake and the cabin.

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According to testimony and Bellew’s own videotaped statement to investigators, Bellew, 18 years old at the time, watched through a window until McCartney went to his bedroom before climbing through a window into the residence.

He found some guns and, taking the victim’s .30-30 rifle, he slowly eased open the bedroom door and crawled up the bed with the gun, putting the barrel to McCartney’s head.

Bellew said McCartney moved and “I freaked out and I shot him in the head.”

Bellew took guns and tried to leave in one of his victim’s vehicles, only to hit a tree. He moved the guns and stolen items to the victim’s other truck and left in it.

He took the guns and exchanged them for $60, a couple of Suboxone strips and some methamphetamine.

Defense attorney Morgan Cunningham told jurors that Bellew’s intent in going to McCartney’s home was to steal guns and money. He described Bellew as having just turned 18, a homeless drug addict with a ninth-grade education, sleeping in abandoned trailers with no power.

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“These are not excuses. These are reasons that go to Hunter’s intent,” Cunningham said.

Jurors were instructed to consider the charge of capital murder — intentional murder during a burglary — and felony murder, causing the death of someone during a burglary.

Cunningham said intent was the deciding factor between the two charges. He told jurors Bellew did burglarize the home, and he did cause McCartney’s death. At the time of the crime, he said Bellew was spending time with a lot of older people, also drug users, who wanted the guns Bellew went to the residence to steal.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid told jurors there was a difference in purpose and intent.

“His purpose was to get guns. His purpose was to get money,” Reid told jurors. “His intent at the moment he pulled that trigger … his intent was to kill.”

According to testimony, Bellew was with female friend Taylor Fox, then 15, for days prior to the burglary and shooting. They spent hours at the lake beyond McCartney’s home, she said, and Bellew talked them about going to kill “Ned,” before she abandoned him, calling her mother to come get her.

Bellew’s father had been friends with McCartney years earlier, often at McCartney’s home and sometimes bringing his son, according to McCartney’s son Jordan. Both men, he said, called one another “Ned.”

Willoughby said prosecutors were thankful for the jury’s verdict in the case, prosecuted by Reid and Deputy District Attorney Brynn Crain.

Defense attorneys Cunningham, Vince Pentecost and Chris Messer had asked that the jury consider the lesser included offense of felony murder.

“We were confident in the fact that the requisite intent to kill was found,” Willoughby said. “We feel the jury got it right.”

Crain said, “We were very happy with the outcome. It was tough to have to see the nature of the evidence, the graphic content of the exhibits.”

He said they were glad the family was able to get this closure after waiting through the normal lengthy process of bringing a capital case to trial, and the delay in jury trials because of COVID-19.

While Alabama law requires a sentencing hearing, both were pleased that the only sentencing option will mean Bellew is never on the streets again.

“The next time he’ll get out of prison will be in a pine box,” Crain said, “and that’s the way it should be.”

Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Guilty: Capital murder verdict delivered in 2016 Riddle’s Bend case