JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 63-year-old convict is back on trial for the crime that sent him to Death Row 25 years ago: the 1996 rape and murder of a Jacksonville woman.
James Belcher was sentenced to death for the murder and sexual battery of Jennifer Embry, a student at Florida Technical College. She was found strangled and sexually battered in the bathtub of her Westside townhome.
Belcher's case is one of dozens in Florida that must be resentenced in the wake of legal changes, because the original jury verdict was not unanimous. Jurors voted 9-3 for death.
"Whoever did this deserves the death penalty," Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi told jurors during opening statements Wednesday. "This murder was the worst of the worst."
But Belcher's attorneys argued he has made positive changes since his conviction, including getting married and counseling fellow inmates.
Public Defender Lewis Buzzell noted, "he is a dead man walking" regardless of whether he is sentenced to life or death.
"Mr. Belcher can continue to make positive contributions," Buzzell told jurors, "to his wife, and family, and even to the world at large."
The first witness called Wednesday was Embry's brother Ricky, a former firefighter in both Clay and Duval counties. He discovered her drowned and lifeless body in her bathtub after she didn't show up for work on Jan. 8, 1996. He described walking around her townhome, calling her name and looking for her.
“When I walked back up, looked in the bathroom, I seen her body in the tub. And it was devastating. It was very painful, what I seen.”
Embry wept as he testified. He was one of several family members in court, some gasping as prosecutors showed photos of the crime scene.
The trial is expected to continue into next week. The only question before the jury is whether Belcher will be sentenced to life or death.
