Drunk driver who killed Charlotte football All-American sentenced to jail
Deputies kept Lee Staten’s 11-year-old granddaughter away from a fifth-floor Charlotte courtroom for most of Thursday — but as the man who killed her grandfather prepared to be sentenced, officials escorted her to a row filled with family and gave her a box of tissues.
She fixed her eyes on Edwin Bellorin, the 32-year-old man who killed Staten in a drunk driving crash.
Bellorin hit Staten while running a red light in east Charlotte after a night of drinking in 2024, prosecutors said. Just before 5 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2024, Bellorin’s Ford F-250 hit Staten’s F-150 at the intersection of Plaza Road Extension and Hood Road.
Bellorin’s car automatically called 911, and he remained on the scene as Staten and his car went up in flames, prosecutors said. Bellorin told police he had 11 alcoholic drinks in 10 hours, according to court documents.
On Thursday, Bellorin pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and driving while impaired. Siding with the Staten family, Judge Donald Cureton Jr. sentenced Bellorin to the maximum of 16 months to 20 months in prison for the manslaughter charge and 120 days for driving while impaired.
Mecklenburg prosecutor Nikki Robinson announced in court that the District Attorney’s Office dismissed a felony death by vehicle charge. That charge would have carried up to 89 months in jail, Cureton said.
In a news release earlier this week, the Staten family said prosecutors were originally seeking a “shocking sentence” of 30 days of jail time. In court, Robinson said that had been “taken off the table.” She left the sentencing solely in the judge’s hands.
Garinger High All-American, barber shop owner killed in drunk driver crash
Artesia Staten, Lee Staten’s wife of 21 years, told Cureton that Bellorin’s “asinine behavior” killed a husband, father and grandfather who was “superman” to so many in the community. Staten in 1985 graduated as an All-American wrestler and linebacker at Garinger High School. He turned down a college scholarship to raise his first child.
He owned a barber shop, gave free haircuts to students in need and coached little league football.
Now, all that’s left of him are his burnt shoes, which Artesia Staten brought to court, and his ashes, which hang partially in a necklace around his daughter’s neck.
Staten’s body was so burned that she could not identify him at the coroner’s office, she told Cureton.
The recent holidays felt void, she said, and she couldn’t help but imagine Bellorin at home with his family — making memories.
Bellorin was released on an unsecured bond hours after his arrest. He had a 0.11 BAC — 0.03 over the legal limit — four hours after the crash.
“I promise I did not mean for this to happen. I will carry this remorse with me forever,” Bellorin, with his sister and wife watching, told Cureton and the Staten family. “Your pain weighs in my heart.”
Lesser sentence in similar case
In the same courtroom Thursday, Casey Ruppe was sentenced to 60 days in jail in a case similar to Bellorin’s.
The 38-year-old was originally charged with felony death by vehicle for hitting cyclist Jeramie Paige and dragging him 300 feet before stopping on Jan. 30, 2025. She had several drinks before driving and had traces of methamphetamine in her system. Paige later died in the hospital.
Ruppe took a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter and driving while impaired in the death. Prosecutors recommended a 60-day sentence. Cureton, who referenced God and the Ten Commandments several times in Thursday’s proceedings, told Paige’s aunt that “our guts tell us that it doesn’t feel right” when someone gets 60 days when a life is lost and made clear to the family that the maximum punishment was up to 32 months.
Paige’s mother and aunt agreed to the short sentence.
They pleaded for Ruppe to get substance abuse help. They’d dealt with alcoholism in their family, and a program was the only thing that helped, they said.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
