# "Cyrus Belton Verdict: Store Owner Found Not Guilty of Killing 14-Year-Old Black Child | Life Points with Ronda" Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-points-with-ronda-5711326/cyrus-belton-verdict-store-owner-found-not-guilty-of-killing-14-year-old-black-child-life-points-with-ronda Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-points-with-ronda-5711326/cyrus-belton-verdict-store-owner-found-not-guilty-of-killing-14-year-old-black-child-life-points-with-ronda.md Podcast: [Life Points with Ronda](https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-points-with-ronda-5711326) Published: 2026-06-03T19:34:58+00:00 Episode link: https://redcircle.com/shows/4a4c69b2-29eb-42d7-ab01-c738f691dadd/episodes/94068428-e656-4d8e-a838-02f7d070c3ec Audio file: https://audio3.redcircle.com/episodes/94068428-e656-4d8e-a838-02f7d070c3ec/stream.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/life-points-with-ronda-5711326/episodes/cyrus-belton-verdict-store-owner-found-not-guilty-of-killing-14-year-old-black-child-life-points-with-ronda Duration seconds: 2286 ## Resource ⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence against a child, racial violence, and discussions of the murder of a Black teenager. Listener discretion is strongly advised. πŸ–€ A CHILD IS DEAD. THE SHOOTER WALKS FREE. NOW WHAT? On June 1st, 2026, a South Carolina jury delivered a verdict that shook the nation. Rick Chow, 61, was found not guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old Black boy who was accused of stealing four bottles of water. Cyrus was shot in the back. He was running away. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting. And the man who pulled the trigger walked out of that courtroom a free man. In this powerful, unflinching episode of Life Points with Ronda, we do more than just report the news. We tell the full story. We name the names. We lay out the evidence. And we ask the hard questions that no one else is asking. πŸ“ INSIDE THIS EPISODE: βš–οΈ The Full Story – What really happened on May 28th, 2023, from the moment Cyrus walked into that Shell station to the moment he took his last breath on the pavement πŸ”« The Chase – How two grown men chased a 114-pound child more than 130 yards down a public street πŸ“Ή The Surveillance Footage – What the cameras captured that the jury saw (and what it proved about the stolen water accusation) πŸ—£οΈ Witness Testimony – Multiple independent witnesses who saw no gun in Cyrus's hands and described him as "frightened and scared" βš–οΈ The Self-Defense Claim – Breaking down South Carolina's self-defense law and why it should never have applied to Rick Chow πŸ‘¨β€βš–οΈ The Trial – Three days of testimony, eight and a half hours of jury deliberation, and the verdict that left Cyrus's family sobbing in the courtroom πŸ“£ The Aftermath – Protests, boycotts, and a community demanding… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/life-points-with-ronda-5711326/episodes/cyrus-belton-verdict-store-owner-found-not-guilty-of-killing-14-year-old-black-child-life-points-with-ronda/transcription-requests` β€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-points-with-ronda-5711326/cyrus-belton-verdict-store-owner-found-not-guilty-of-killing-14-year-old-black-child-life-points-with-ronda.md` β€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.