Bell pleads not guilty to murder

Scott Bell

AURORA | A man accused of a killing last year at an East Colfax Avenue motel pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday.

Scott Damon Bell, 38, entered the plea in Adams County Court, according to court records. 

He is set to go on trial in October. 

A judge ruled in April there was probable cause for Bell to stand trial on the murder charge stemming from the May 2010 slaying of David Jeffrey Carpenter, 41, at the Carriage Motor Inn Motel, 9201 E. Colfax Ave.

According to jail records, Bell had been in the jail since December on a DUI charge when he was charged with Carpenter’s murder in January.

In the hours after Carpenter’s death, witnesses told police that a group of five men, including Carpenter and the gunman, were smoking crack in a motel room prior to the shooting, according to an arrest affidavit filed against Bell.

A fight later broke out and police say Bell, who had been brandishing a pistol that day, killed Carpenter.