Man Who Beat Murder Charge On Technicality Fatally Shot Less Than An Hour Out Of Jail

CHICAGO, IL — A man who had murder charges against him dropped on a technicality earlier this year was fatally shot Monday less than an hour after he was released on bail from Cook County Jail where he was being held on a separate armed robbery charge, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Kamari Belmont, 23, walked out of jail at around 11:12 p.m. Monday, March 7, after a friend had posted his $10,000 bail, the report stated. He had been in custody on armed robbery charges stemming from an incident in May of 2015, in which Belmont also faced the murder charge he would later beat in January of this year, the report added.

A half hour of freedom under his belt and jail only a couple blocks behind him, Belmont was riding in a vehicle on California Avenue when a white SUV pulled alongside him and gunfire tore through his torso and back, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The SUV crashed after the shooting, and the occupants fled the scene, the Tribune reports.

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Belmont collapsed on the street in the 3300 block of South California Avenue, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:57 p.m., according to the Sun-Times.

Michael Johnson, Belmont's lawyer, told the Tribune he didn't think the shooting was a revenge killing, saying the 2015 incident wasn't gang-related. Johnson also doubted that news of Belmont's release could have spread so fast, the report added.

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Belmont wound up behind bars after he and two other men — Terrence Hogan, 23, and Khalil Powell, 21 — were arrested in connection with an armed robbery that turned into a fatal shooting May 1, 2015.

The trio was accused of robbing Sorrell Marshall, 40, and a 20-year-old woman at gunpoint as the two were walking to the woman's Douglas neighborhood apartment, DNAinfo.com reported in April of 2016. Hogan was accused of shooting Marshall five times in the leg and groin, and the victim eventually died from his injuries on May 23, the report added.

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Initially, the men were charged with armed robbery and attempted murder, the Tribune reports. The charges, however, were upgraded to first-degree murder nearly a year after Marshall's death was ruled a homicide, and it is still unclear why prosecutors waited so long to do so.

In April of 2016, Belmont requested a speedy trial after he was charged with murder, the Sun-Times reports. On Jan. 27, the murder charge was dropped after Cook County prosectuors failed to bring the case to trial in the time required by Belmont's request, the report added.

More via the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and DNAinfo.com

photo via Shutterstock

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