Judge finds South Carolina man guilty in mother’s death

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has convicted a South Carolina man of killing his mother last year in Iowa. District Judge Jeffrey Neary on Friday convicted Paul Belk of second-degree murder in the April 2020 death of his 55-year-old mother, Lisa Belk, in Sioux City, Iowa. Prosecutors said Belk, of Beaufort, South Carolina, stabbed his mother 16 times with knives and scissors at his sister’s apartment. Belk had entered an insanity defense. Neary ruled that Belk was not insane when he killed his mother but his use of marijuana aggravated his mental illness, preventing him from forming intent to kill his mother. Belk was found not guilty of willful injury for stabbing his sister.