Inset left: Stuart Beck (Clearwater Police Department). Inset right: Michael Conrad (Obituary). Background: The since-defunct Bay Cove Apartments where Beck shot and killed Conrad in Clearwater, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida man will spend several decades behind bars after shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend”s lover in a late-night altercation.
In July, Stuart Beck, 25, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Pinellas County on one count of murder in the second degree over the July 2022 death of 20-year-old Michael Conrad.
This week, the defendant was sentenced by Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Philippe Matthey to 30 years in prison.
The underlying incident occurred during the early morning hours of July 6, 2022, at the Bay Cove Apartments on 19135 U.S. Highway 19 North in Clearwater — a large city some 20 miles west of Tampa.
During a confrontation, the contours of which were disputed by both the state and defense until the end, Beck shot and killed Conrad.
The defendant, however, did not dispute that he fired the fatal shot. But his story changed considerably over the years, according to a courtroom report by the Tampa Bay Times.
From his arrest up until his trial, Beck insisted the shooting was accidental. On the stand, he told prosecutors the shooting was intentional — though not the killing in the strictest sense.
“I didn’t mean to kill him, but I meant for the gun to go off,” the defendant reportedly told the jury.
Beck argued that the shooting was in self-defense after he was previously beaten up by the victim and two of his friends. Beck said he felt “in fear for my life” during a final bedroom confrontation.
“We were basically wrestling for the gun and moving around the general area,” the defendant testified. “I had tried to raise my hand to get him to let go, and at that time he had his other hand on the gun, and I started losing grip, and I tried to hit him with the gun to get him to let go, and he didn’t let go. I felt it was in my best interest to shoot him at that time otherwise he would get the gun.”
The state strongly contested that narrative by drawing attention to what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting — starting with Beck kicking the door to the apartment in.
“You cannot break down a door, break into an apartment, point a gun at someone who has nothing on him,” a prosecutor said. “That’s not self-defense, members of the jury, that’s murder. You don’t get so close to somebody and put a pistol up against their chest as an accident.”
As for the root of the violence, Beck was seemingly upset about his ex-girlfriend taking a lover. But, again, accounts differed.
The woman at the center of the dispute testified that the couple broke up several months prior to the shooting but that Beck’s name was still on the lease. She told the jury she started seeing Conrad but occasionally still hung out with Beck.
“This is a heat-of-passion shooting; this is a love triangle,” defense attorney Scott Tremblay said. “This is a manslaughter case at best.”
As for the night in question, Beck disputed that he knew Conrad was there when he arrived. But prosecutors secured testimony from the woman at the center of the triangle that the defendant called her and said he knew Conrad was there because he saw the victim’s truck parked outside.
In the end, the jury largely agreed with the state’s narrative, finding Beck guilty but finding the murder was not premeditated and therefore rejecting a first-degree murder conviction.
During the sentencing hearing, one of Conrad’s aunts testified about the pain that Beck’s actions caused, the Times reported.
“You didn’t just kill him; you killed laughter in our home,” she said. “You killed quiet moments that should have been filled with his voice. You condemned us to a lifetime of grief, and I hope you carry that same burden.”
