The verdict has been delayed in a murder trial in Medicine Hat. (Photo: CHAT News Today)

By Eli J. Ridder

Verdict delayed in Medicine Hat murder trial

Jan 18, 2024 | 8:57 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Deborah Belyea, a Suffield woman on trial in connection to the death of her husband Alfred, will have to wait nearly two weeks to hear a verdict from the judge after closing arguments on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.

Justice Dallas Miller said court will resume for a verdict at 1:30 p.m. on January 29. With the accused asking for a judge-only trial, the decision is entirely up to Miller.

The Crown called over one dozen witnesses from the start of its case on January 9 until it rested on Tuesday.

RCMP officers, forensics experts and a medical examiner detailed how Belyea allegedly stabbed Alfred to death in their residence, removed his arms, and stuffed his body in a garbage bin she left on a rural property in Piapot, Saskatchewan in 2021.

The defense did not call any witnesses Wednesday morning, despite anticipation there would be at least one, meaning the trial moved onto closing statements.

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The prosecution wrapped up its closing arguments shortly after 11 a.m. in an hour-long summary of the evidence.

Crown lawyers are required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused defendant committed murder.

DNA evidence reportedly places Belyea at the depreciated Piapot property where her husband’s body was found.

A note Belyea wrote to her daughters included a map to that rural property.

The accused also allegedly asked a friend to throw out a bag of bloody female clothes that forensics had linked to her.

Belyea was arrested on October 16, 2021, eight days after Alfred, 72 at the time of his death, was last heard from.

Belyea was seen in tears after court took a short break following the Crown’s final arguments.

With no witnesses, lawyer Katherine Beyak’s defense of Belyea came through cross-examination and Wednesday’s closing argument.

Both focused on highlighting Belyea’s physical condition and tried to raise doubts over the methods allegedly used by investigating officers and the medical examiner.

The accused has used assistive oxygen breathing devices on and off since 2009 and suffered a stroke over 20 years ago that impacted her long-term health, according to family members and a former co-worker who testified.

In Beyak’s closing argument, she focused on framing the Crown’s approach as largely based on circumstantial evidence — evidence not drawn from direct observation, such as blood detection techniques.

Alfred told his wife on the Friday before he was reported missing that we would not be home over the weekend, according to Belyea.

The accused left a light on and she found it off Sunday morning, suggesting that her husband dropped by during the night, Belyea told police in 2021.

After her daughters started asking about the whereabouts of their father and saying they wanted to report him missing, Belyea on October 13, filed a missing persons case with the RCMP.

Belyea plead not guilty to a count of second-degree murder and a charge of treating a deceased person’s body in an undignified matter.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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