Appeals court upholds Lawrence man’s murder conviction

? The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the murder conviction of a Lawrence man who beat his girlfriend to death in July 2006.

Christopher Belone was convicted and sentenced to 48 years in prison for the death of Linda Begay. He reportedly had beaten her with the leg of a coffee table. She was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital but was later transferred to Stormont Vail Regional Medical Center in Topeka where she died.

Christopher Belone

The cause of death was listed as peritonitis caused by blunt force trauma to her abdomen.

A Douglas County jury convicted Belone of second-degree murder, kidnapping, obstructing legal process or official duty and violating a protective order.

But the Kansas Supreme Court later overturned that conviction and remanded the case for a new trial, saying the district court should not have admitted into evidence statements that Begay made while she was in the hospital because Belone’s attorney could not cross-examine her.

Belone was tried again in 2012 and was convicted again, this time of unintentional second-degree murder and violating a protective order. He was sentenced to 36 years in prison.

Friday’s ruling came from an appeal of that second conviction. Among other things, Belone argued that the second trial court erred by admitting hearsay testimony from hospital staff and friends of Begay who said they heard her identify Belone as her attacker.

He also argued that the trial court violated his right to remain silent by admitting into evidence testimony he gave at his first trial.

A three-judge panel of the appellate court rejected those arguments and upheld Belone’s second conviction.

The appeal was heard by Chief Judge Thomas E. Malone and Judges Joseph Pierron, Jr., and Melissa Taylor Standridge.