GRAHAM — A man on trial this week in Superior Court faces a life sentence if he’s convicted under a rarely used state law.
Christopher Rashawn Belfield, 24, of 3003 University Drive, Durham — but who police say lived in Burlington at the time of his arrest — is charged with a Nov. 21, 2013, armed robbery and as a violent habitual felon.
If he isn’t the first Alamance County defendant to go to trial under the state’s violent habitual felon statute — which requires a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the same as a first-degree murder conviction — he’s the first in a long time.
Belfield’s former defense attorney, Bob Martin, said he couldn’t recall a trial on the charge in his 25 years in practice here. It’s so rare that prosecutors forget to check to see whether it applies to defendants, he said.
People are also reading…
Assistant District Attorney Gene Morris also couldn’t remember a trial on the charge, though several have pleaded to attaining the status.
According to the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s records, four people are currently serving out Alamance County convictions as violent habitual felons. Forty people are serving out violent habitual felon sentences statewide.
One of them, Robert Mitchell Foust, 54, pleaded guilty in Alamance County in 2012 to two second-degree murders and as a violent habitual felon, and received a life sentence. He was already serving a 50-year sentence for rape and as a habitual felon.
For someone to be charged as a violent habitual felon, they must have been convicted of two prior high-level felonies, such as kidnapping, burglary or sexual assault.
Belfield has Alamance County convictions of first-degree burglary and robbery with a dangerous weapon. He committed those offenses on two separate dates in 2008, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s website.
BELFIELD IS ON trial this week, accused of stealing money from Barbara Harvey after he and another man entered her Fulton Street home just before 9:30 a.m. Nov. 21. His trial began Wednesday and is expected to last through Friday.
Harvey testified that Belfield and the other man, identified in court as a David Goodman, knocked on her door. Goodman allegedly pulled a handgun and pointed it at her. Belfield searched her clothing and home for money, she testified.
“He stuck his hand in my bra and in my panties, as well. I said, ‘Chris, are you really going to do this?’” said Harvey, who had known Belfield vaguely. “He put his hand in my bra because that’s where my money was.”
Camille Long, who lived in the home with Harvey at the time, testified that she awoke to a commotion and heard Harvey yelling. She testified that she saw Belfield and a man with a gun, and heard them demanding money or they would shoot her. Long called 911 from her bed, whispered to operators that a robbery was happening, and asked them to send police quickly.
Harvey, Long and a neighbor, Felix Farrington, testified that the man they identified as Belfield had blond or gold-tipped dreadlocks that morning.
But Daniel Spell, a master patrolman with Burlington police, testified under cross-examination that no one mentioned the blonde hair in interviews about the suspects or events. Spell also testified that Harvey didn’t mention Belfield searching her underwear for money.
Spell testified that Harvey and Long were very upset and nearly hysterical that morning. They identified Belfield out of a photo lineup.
Defense attorney David Remington attempted to bring in evidence of a corollary investigation Burlington police were conducting Nov. 21, allegedly involving many potential witnesses in Belfield’s case. Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan sustained an objection by Assistant District Attorney Craig Thompson, finding the line of questioning would only confuse jurors and wasn’t relevant to Belfield’s trial.
Burlington police detective Chad Campbell also testified Wednesday.
The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. today in the Superior Courtroom of the Alamance County Criminal Courts Building.