JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Jennifer Embry in Jacksonville will be resentenced next week without a new trial.
James Belcher was convicted and sentenced to death in February 1999. The guilty verdict was unanimous, but the death penalty verdict was 9-3, documents show.
Because of this, Belcher is legally entitled to be resentenced. His only two options are life behind bars or death.
Court documents indicate that on Jan. 8, 1996, Belcher entered Embry's townhouse and sexually battered her. He then proceeded to strangle her and hold her head underneath the water in the bathtub until she died, documents indicate.
This case is the latest in a series of “Hurst Resentencings” stemming from a landmark 2016 decision by the Florida Supreme Court, Hurst v. State, in which the court found that a capital sentencing jury must vote unanimously.
In June, a man convicted of murdering a Jacksonville couple by burying them alive was resentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison after initially receiving the death penalty.
