LEWISTON — Niagara County prosecutors have confirmed that the long-awaited trial in what has become known as the Lewiston Party House case will begin on Aug. 31.
Matthew J. Murphy III, a judge working in the Niagara County Court system in New York said he “prayed” Wednesday before deciding jail wasn’t an “appropriate” place for a now 20-year-old man who raped and sexually assaulted four teenage girls when he was 16 and 17.
"If Chris Belter was not a white defendant from a rich and influential family, it is my belief he would surely have been sentenced to prison." That was what lawyer Steven M Cohen said on Tuesday when his client's rapist Christopher Belter Jr, 20,.