Kevin Marquette Bellinger, Murder by a Federal Prisoner, West Virginia 2007

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Table of Contents

Life Sentence for Murder in Federal Prison

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – In a shocking turn of events, Kevin Marquette Bellinger, a former resident of Washington, D.C. and inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia, has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of another inmate.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia, Bellinger was convicted by a federal jury on June 16, 2014 of one count of murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence and one count of second degree murder in a federal facility for his role in the October 7, 2007, murder of inmate Jesse Harris.

During a move of inmates from the recreation yard back to their cells, Bellinger and a co-defendant left the yard ahead of the others and traveled to an intersection of two corridors in the prison facility, where they confronted Harris and stabbed him with shanks in an orchestrated attack. In less than a minute, an officer approached, and the attackers fled. Officers apprehended Bellinger after a short pursuit, but they did not recover his weapon.

At the time of the murder, Bellinger was serving a life sentence for an assault with intent to kill that took place in 2000.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Cogar and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Flower of the Northern District of West Virginia and Trial Attorney Richard Burns from the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.

On October 7, 2007, Kevin Marquette Bellinger, a former resident of Washington, D.C. and inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia, murdered inmate Jesse Harris.

Bellinger was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder.