13-03-2025
Appeal denied for inmate convicted of 2018 Calhoun County murder
CALHOUN COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – The 1st District Court of Appeal has denied a motion from an inmate who murdered his wife in Calhoun County over six years ago.
In July 2018, German man Dan Belc killed his wife, shooting her multiple times at her family's home in Blountstown. According to the State Attorney's office, Belc followed his wife to Calhoun County after she left their home in Germany and filed for divorce.
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After killing her, Belc hauled her body around in the trunk of his car before turning himself in to the Jackson County Sheriff's office. In October 2022, a Bay County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
Belc was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, he appealed the conviction on the basis that the state improperly cross-examined him about pre-trial statements he made and that the court denied his motion for a mistrial based on those statements.
He also claims the court should not have denied his motion to suppress statements he made to investigators that led them to a secondary crime scene.
Belc's first point of appeal was that his defense was prejudiced by the introduction at trial of his statements that he, a 'foreigner' from Germany, could not get a fair trial in Calhoun County. Officials said he argued his conviction would have been impossible without jurors hearing those statements.
However, on Wednesday, the 1st District Court of Appeal denied his appeal, stating the defense did not object to the questions about those statements at trial or move for a mistrial.
They also stated that the presiding judge's decisions during the trial were proper.
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