THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120563
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
A Newport News man who shot and killed an unarmed, off-duty prison guard outside a Norfolk hotel last June was sentenced Thursday to 45 years in prison.
Kevin Antonia Howard, 29, had earlier pleaded guilty to shooting Richard Harris, 29, in the parking lot of a Howard Johnson's hotel in the 700 block of Monticello Ave.
Before passing sentence, Circuit Judge Marc Jacobson heard testimony that Howard claimed to have brought a gun with him to Norfolk only to protect himself from the violence he had heard about in the city.
Commonwealth's Attorney Charles D. Griffith Jr. said the Rev. Walter Gholson, a jail chaplain, testified on Howard's behalf at the sentencing.
Griffith said Gholson told the judge that Howard had accepted Jesus Christ into his life and thus was no longer a danger to society. He said he believed the devil had made Howard kill.
Prosecutors responded with a detailed history of Howard's past, including possession and use of guns, possession and distribution of illegal drugs and even a conviction for killing a cow as well as convictions for three other assaults. The state also noted that Howard had fathered four children by three women, none of whom he ever married.
Jacobson did not impose a maximum sentence, and prosecutors expressed frustration.
``Notwithstanding the defendant's prior criminal history and six previous years of unemployment, drug dealing and possession of a firearm while being a convicted felon, and total flaunting of his terms of probation'' for previous convictions, Jacobson, Griffith said in a press release, ``declined to impose the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the unprovoked, cold-blooded killing of an unarmed man.''
The murder occurred June 29 as Harris, his wife and two friends were leaving the hotel where they had attended a comedy show.
Harris was approached by four men, one of them Howard, and an argument ensued, police said. Howard pulled a gun and shot Harris once in the upper abdomen. The corrections officer was pronounced dead at a hospital half an hour later.
Police arrested Howard within a few hours.
Harris had been a prison guard at St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake for almost three years. He had worked at the Powhatan Correctional Center.
Harris had only recently married another St. Brides guard and had applied to become a sergeant.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING TRIAL SENTENCING by CNB