The death-penalty sentence for a former Toledo man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk during a 2008 robbery was commuted Thursday to life without parole at prosecutors’ recommendation.
Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said she had agreed to the change in Anthony Belton’s sentence in part because the victim’s family wanted the matter to end and was satisfied that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The stipulation between prosecutors and Belton’s lawyers was presented Thursday morning in Lucas County Common Pleas Court during what had been scheduled as a hearing of Belton’s motion for a declaration that he has serious mental illness, thus disqualifying him from execution. Judge Lindsay Navarre then resentenced Belton to life without parole…