Christopher Belter, now 20, entered a plea deal in 2019 in which he agreed to plead guilty to attempted first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree rape and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, according to court documents.
The charges stem from four separate incidents in 2017 and 2018 in Lewiston, New York, the documents state. He and the victims were all under 18 at the time.
Belter was placed on interim probation for two years with limits on his internet use and access to pornography, the documents state.
But he violated the terms of his probation, according to court documents. Judge Matthew J. Murphy denied him Youthful Offender status and ruled he’d be sentenced as an adult, the documents state.
Last Tuesday, Judge Murphy issued a sentence of eight years of probation and ruled Belter must register as a sex offender — but said prison time would be inappropriate.
An order of protection was also issued on the first charge.
Belter’s attorney Barry Covert declined to comment. Prior to the sentencing, Belter read a statement to the victims in the case.
“Through treatment and reflection, I’ve come to feel deep shame and regret for my actions. None of you deserved to be in this situation,” he said. “I hope each of you could close that wound I gashed.”
“I know though, that a scar will remain that will serve as a reminder of the evil of that night,” he added.
Victim “M.M.” spoke in court in August
One of Belter’s victims spoke about the incident in a court hearing. The girl, identified as M.M., was 16 in August 2018 when Belter raped her and “told her to stop being such a baby,” court documents state. She told the court she focused on a plant in his room “as she cried during the attack.”
“I wish I would have had a louder voice at the beginning of all of this. Maybe I could have done more. That 16-year-old girl trusted a bit too much that justice would have been served. She worried that if she spoke up louder, she would get hurt even worse and hurt other people along the way. She had just assumed that all rapists go to jail. She missed out on opportunities to speak up that she wasn’t even aware of. Let the People do their jobs, right,” she told the court.
“But today I am older. Today I know that I am able to speak up for myself without interference, without people telling me what to say and what not to say. So I stand before you now asking you to not let this be the end, to not let this rapist walk away from two years’ probation with a clean slate. I am asking you because you have the ability to save future girls. You have the ability to either put this fire out or to let it continue burning.”
Steve Cohen, an attorney for one of Belter’s victims, said his client was deeply disappointed in the sentence and vomited in the bathroom afterward.
“The judge had the opportunity to put out the fire but he chose to let it keep burning,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be as emotional as I was, but I just broke down.”
Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman also criticized the lack of prison time in the sentence.
“Based on the seriousness of these crimes, the very powerful and emotional statements of the victims and the fact that Christopher Belter was already given a shot at interim probation and failed, my office has been very clear that we believed a prison sentence was entirely appropriate in this case,” he said.