BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Billings man who served 21 years in prison for killing his wife has been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.
The Billings Gazette reports (https://goo.gl/ZfhtNX ) 49-year-old Frank Joe Belmarez was acquitted Tuesday of aggravated assault but convicted of partner or family member assault, obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest.
The woman testified Monday that Belmarez assaulted and choked her in July and she feared she would die. Officers said she had a broken nose and a concussion.
Belmarez pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his wife outside a Billings bar in 1989. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison and was paroled in 2011.
He was convicted of partner or family member assault in Missoula in 2015 after threatening another girlfriend with a knife. District Judge Rod Souza ruled that the state couldn’t introduce evidence of Belmarez’s convictions.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, https://www.billingsgazette.com
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