23 February 2024 , 06:54
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A convicted rapist and murderer has found himself on death row after a third jury recommended capital punishment this week.
Howard Steven Ault, of Broward County, Florida, lured young DeAnn Emerald Mu'min, 11, and her younger sister, Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, into his home, having promised them some Halloween candy, it was reported. This was back in 1996.
The evil man then forced poor Jones to watch as he raped her older sister before strangling her to death. He then reportedly turned on her and killed her the same way. Both girls' bodies were found inside his home in Fort Lauderdale. Utterly emotionless, Ault watched on Thursday as the judge in the case read the final verdict — the result of two days of deliberations totaling around eight hours, reported Local 10 News.
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Alicia Sybilla Jones (left), 7, was strangled after she was forced to watch Ault rape and strangle her 11-year-old sister DeAnn Emerald Mu'min (LOCAL10)All 12 jurors agreed that aggravating factors leading up to the double homicide were presented adequately at the trial, essentially proving motive and intent — he committed the crime. Then, in a 9-3 vote, the jury recommended the death penalty for the man, whose infamous crimes are still remembered nearly 30 years after they were committed.
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This isn't the first time the 57-year-old was convicted and sent to death row, however. Shortly after his initial conviction in 2000, the rapist and killer was given a retrial, as there had been concerns about the selection of the jury in the first one. In 2007, he was sentenced to death yet again in a 9-3 vote.
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Ault was first sentenced to death in 2000, then again in 2007, then had that overturned around 2018, then was sentenced to death again on Thursday (TNS)Then, in 2017, the Florida Supreme Court once again intervened in the convict's case, ordering yet another retrial for questions about the constitutionality of a non-unanimous death penalty verdict resulting in a death sentence.
So, a couple of years after that, he was tried again — shortly after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead. The shooter in that case was not given the death penalty, as the jury voted 12-9 for it — not a unanimous vote, as the Supreme Court had ruled it must be.
That trial ended in Ault being taken off death row. But on Thursday, he was put right back on it after the 9-3 vote — which, though non-unanimous, was allowed due to a recent law signed by the state's governor, Ron DeSantis, who just unsuccessfully made a bid for the presidency ahead of the November elections, which lowers the threshold necessary for a death sentence to 8-4. That law came into effect in April.
The bodies of the two tragic girls were stashed in the killer's attic at his Fort Lauderdale home, it was reported (LOCAL10)The jury was reportedly asked to consider factors like the nature and motive of the heinous crimes, the ages of the victims and whether or not the murders were "heinous, atrocious or cruel," Local 10 News reported. Jurors also had to weigh Ault's history of childhood abuse, the chaotic family life he endured and various other mental disorders he suffers from.
Ault reportedly had a history of sexual abuse, with an article published in The New York Times in 1996 citing his registration to the sex offender list in Florida after a string of heinous sexual assaults and other offences in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It was reported that he was let off for those crimes, serving either minimal jail sentences for them or simple probation. At the time of the heinous murders he committed in 1996, he had apparently been on house arrest but wasn't regularly monitored, only paid infrequent but regular visits by his parole officer.
A judge will officially sentence Ault on April 11 (LOCAL10)After the disgusting rape and murders, he reportedly confessed to the police what he had done and led the authorities to the bodies of the young girls, which he had stashed in his attic. The ensuing investigation unveiled that he had become friends with the mother of the sisters and had gained her trust. No one in the family knew he was a registered sex offender.
During the latest retrial for the evil man, Bobby Jones, the older brother of the murdered sisters, testified and later told Local 10 News that the trial was "emotional" and "brought up a lot of hate and feelings" he said he thought he had put behind him and moved on from.
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Despite Thursday's verdict, Ault still faces an actual sentencing from a judge on April 11. That day will officially determine whether or not he will be sentenced to death for a third time — and whether the state of Florida will actually follow through with the execution this time.