A Portland man who killed two friends while they helped his girlfriend move out of an east Vancouver apartment complex in March 2017 dodged a sentence of life in prison Monday. But as his attorney pointed out, he will still serve “all of his quality of life” in prison.
Arkangel Howard, 32, was sentenced to 760 months or about 63 years and four months in prison in the shooting deaths of Allen J. Collins, 37, and Jason D. Benton, 42.
In February, a Clark County Superior Court jury found Howard guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
During sentencing Monday, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu argued that Howard’s out-of-state convictions, including third-degree robbery in Oregon, should count toward a “third-strike” offense. Under Washington’s three-strikes law, offenders convicted three times of certain violent and sexual felonies receive mandatory life sentences without the possibility of release.
Vu said that Howard’s Oregon conviction is factually comparable to Washington’s statute for second-degree robbery, a class B felony and strike offense.
Howard’s attorney, Steve Rucker, disagreed and argued that his client’s conviction, a class C felony in Oregon, is a nonviolent offense and not equivalent to a strike offense.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Robert Lewis determined that the conviction was not comparable, and therefore, does not count as a strike offense.
Lewis determined that Howard should instead be sentenced within the standard sentencing range and handed down Vu’s request for 760 months — the sentences for both murder convictions run consecutively and include two 60-month firearm enhancements.
Rucker had asked for a sentence at the low end of the range, a little more than 53 years.
Howard declined to make a statement before he was sentenced. But Rucker said Howard maintains that he didn’t kill his friends.
Collins and Benton were helping Howard move his then-girlfriend’s belongings when he shot them on the evening of March 19, 2017, in an apartment complex parking lot. A motive was never revealed.
At an April 20 hearing, relatives of Collins and Benton were given the chance to confront Howard.
Collins’ sister, Anell Collins, told Howard that he destroyed their family. Allen Collins left behind seven children, ages 1 to 18, she said.
Roberta Hall, a childhood friend of Benton’s, read a statement prepared by his family, forgiving Howard.
