Arkangel Howard had no reason to shoot and kill two friends who were helping him to move his then-girlfriend’s belongings from an east Vancouver apartment complex, his defense attorney Steve Rucker told jurors Thursday afternoon.
But Valerie Sizemore, Howard’s former girlfriend had a motive, Rucker said.
She was upset over being evicted and was behind schedule on moving out on the evening of March 19. And Sizemore admitted to using methamphetamine, he said during closing arguments in Howard’s double murder trial in Clark County Superior Court.
When one of the victims, 42-year-old Jason D. Benton, approached Sizemore about needing gas money, she’d had enough, Rucker said. In a rage, she shot Benton three times in the apartment complex’s parking lot before turning the handgun on an unsuspecting Allen Collins Jr., 37, who was urinating by a parked car at the time of the shooting.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu called the defense’s theory fanciful and said there was no evidence to support Sizemore as the shooter.
He argued that the defense had shifted its theory from “no one saw the shooter” to “Sizemore was the shooter,” because they didn’t expect her to take the stand and point the finger at Howard.
Sizemore had initially told police she hadn’t seen the shooting and was inside when it happened, contrary to what other witnesses reported seeing afterward. However, days later, she went back to investigators and said she saw Howard shoot Benton and Collins. She then took the stand and stuck to that story, Vu said.
Her story is corroborated by a number of neighbors who heard the gunshots and came outside to investigate. Multiple people reported seeing a woman and man in the parking lot, and then the man fleeing in a silver Prius, Vu said. The car belonged to Sizemore.
Vu said another neighbor, who was out walking, said he saw three men and a woman in the parking lot. He then noticed one man was holding a handgun; the witness quickly went to his apartment and soon after heard gunshots.
Vu argued that Howard shot Collins first, because he was in the most vulnerable position. He then shot at Benton, who was talking with Sizemore. Howard missed Benton the first time, however, and Benton ran for cover behind some parked cars, but he was shot in the back and then the head. A third shot hit him in the armpit, Vu said.
Witnesses said they heard Sizemore say something to the effect of, “I can’t believe you just did that!” And then Howard fled in her Prius. The car was found a couple blocks away from the crime scene. It was also just a couple blocks from Howard’s sister’s residence, Vu said.
Call records show that Howard connected with his mother not long after the shooting. Vu said that she came to pick him up and drove him to her residence in Portland.
He argued that if Howard hadn’t committed the shooting, he had no reason to flee.
But Rucker said Howard wasn’t hiding out. He lives at his mother’s residence — as listed on his driver’s license — and he didn’t try to evade law enforcement when they came to arrest him March 30. He also questioned why law enforcement didn’t find the firearm, a .45-caliber Hi-Point pistol, used in the shootings when they searched the property.
Instead, the firearm was accidentally discovered more than a month later by a neighbor who was retrieving his cat from under a shed on the property; the firearm was in a brown paper bag, Vu said.
Vu asked jurors to use their common sense while deliberating and to look at the totality of the evidence. He asked them to find Howard guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. If the jury doesn’t find Howard guilty of first-degree murder, it is to consider second-degree murder.
Rucker told jurors that Benton and Collins certainly deserve justice, but said that justice shouldn’t be based off of law enforcement and the prosecution’s speculation and opinion.
The case went to the jury late Thursday afternoon. Deliberations will resume Friday morning.
