Del Toro plea expected in Bellush case

Prosecutors say they have offered no deals to the man accused of being Sheila Bellush's killer.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 6, 2000

SARASOTA -- Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. is expected to enter a plea in court this morning and to accept a prison term for his role in the killing of Sheila Bellush, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

The newspaper said its information came from "sources close to the case" but that those sources would not comment about plea terms A prosecutor in the case said that if Del Toro pleaded guilty, he would be sentenced to life in prison.

Del Toro is charged with first-degree murder, and prosecutors say they will not charge him with a lesser crime in order to strike a deal.

"There's been no plea negotiations or plea bargaining in the works," Assistant State Attorney Charlie Roberts told the Times. "If someone wants to come in and plead guilty, I can't prevent him from doing that. He would get life without parole."

Mrs. Bellush's widower, Jamie Bellush, flew from Texas to Sarasota to attend a pretrial hearing in Del Toro's case set for this morning, said Mrs. Bellush's mother, Gene Smith.

Del Toro's attorneys would not confirm Wednesday night that their client was planning to enter a plea today.

"You need to show up tomorrow morning," said Jim Slater, the 12th Circuit's chief assistant public defender.

Del Toro, 23, is accused of being the hit man in a murder-for-hire scheme. Investigators say he broke into the Bellushes' rented Sarasota home in November 1997, shot Mrs. Bellush in the face and slit her throat twice as her quadruplet toddlers played nearby. Two of them were found crawling in their mother's blood.

Del Toro is not facing the death penalty because he fled to Mexico days after Mrs. Bellush's death. He fought extradition for 20 months.

The U.S. extradition treaty with Mexico requires states to waive the death penalty before Mexico will send a murder defendant back for prosecution. Prosecutors gave up seeking the death penalty against Del Toro in order to get him returned to Florida.

Del Toro, a former high school football star from south Texas, is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Sarasota.

Investigators say they have evidence linking Del Toro to the crime scene, including the .45-caliber pistol used in the killing and his fingerprint on the Bellushes' clothes dryer. They say bloodstains on Del Toro's camouflage pants and a lace from his boot matched Mrs. Bellush's blood.

Also, neighbors have testified that they saw Del Toro in camouflage clothing in the Bellushes' neighborhood at the time of the killing.

If Del Toro enters a plea or is convicted, he would become the third man to be convicted in Mrs. Bellush's murder.

Prosecutors say Mrs. Bellush's ex-husband, Allen Blackthorne, 45, asked his golfing buddy Daniel Rocha to find a hit man to bludgeon Bellush. Rocha testified he contacted his friend Sammy Gonzales, who hired his cousin, Del Toro, to do the job.

Rocha is serving life in prison for first-degree murder, and Gonzales is serving 19 years for conspiracy to commit murder.

Blackthorne, a wealthy businessman, is on trial in Texas on federal charges of conspiring to commit murder-for-hire and of arranging an act of domestic violence across state lines.

-- The Sarasota Herald Tribune contributed to this report.

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