Jeannette woman facing murder trial pleads guilty to theft from Westmoreland Co. Housing Authority

A Jeannette woman awaiting trial in a murder case pleaded guilty Wednesday to unrelated theft charges.

Crystal Belle, 39, was charged nearly four years ago with financial crimes related to checks police said she forged to steal money from the Westmoreland County Housing Authority. It was while she was free on bail awaiting trial for the theft charges that police said she brutally beat to death her 19-year-old boyfriend.

In court on Wednesday, Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio sentenced Belle to serve one year on probation and ordered her to pay the housing authority more than $900 in restitution. Police contended Belle in December 2014 forged routing numbers on to checks to steal money from the authority.

Belle’s guilty plea came about six weeks after she withdrew another guilty plea she entered last year to a charge of third-degree murder in connection with the bludgeoning death of Khalil Parker in her Jeannette home.

Parker, of Brentwood, Allegheny County, was found dead in June 11, 2016, tied up with shoe laces in Belle’s South Seventh Street home. Prosecutors contend she used a shovel handle to beat Parker to death.

Belle pleaded guilty in September to a reduced charge, but she told Judge Christopher Feliciani in January — the day she was scheduled to sentenced for the killing — that she wanted to withdraw that plea. Belle had faced maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

Feliciani, following a hearing in February in which defense attorney Brian Aston argued the prosecution’s evidence against Belle was not sufficient to support a potential guilty finding, agreed to nullify Belle’s plea. Her murder trial is now scheduled to begin May 13.

Prosecutors are expected to seek a first-degree murder finding against Belle. If found guilty of that offense, she would receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.