A 2002 Fulton County death penalty case, sidelined because the suspect was ill and not expected to live, was revived Thursday.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob told prosecuting and defense attorneys the case of Howard Belcher had been on her docket “too long” and it was time to move the case now that the accused killer appeared well.
Belcher is already serving a life sentence for an Oct. 10, 2002, murder of a Paulding County man with whom he said he had prostituted himself.
Five days earlier, on Oct. 5, 2002, according to Fulton County prosecutors, he brutally killed 40-year-old Mark Schaller, who was found beaten, hog-tied and strangled in his home on Dutch Valley Road in northeast Atlanta.
Shoob told Belcher he looked healthier than he appeared the last time he was in court. She said the case was put on hold because Belcher’s doctors said at one time they did not expect him to live; he was not taking his medications for HIV.
“This case has lingered because … I was told he would not survive,” Shoob said.
The judge told the lawyers to discuss resolving the case or moving to trial and to report back to her in two weeks.
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