A Portland man convicted of killing two friends who were helping his girlfriend move out of an east Vancouver apartment in March 2017 had his sentencing postponed Friday in Clark County Superior Court, but the victims’ families got a chance to confront him.
“You destroyed (the family),” said Anell Collins, the sister of Allen J. Collins, one of the men shot to death by Arkangel Howard, 32.
Last month, jurors spent less than two hours deliberating before finding Howard guilty in the fatal shootings of Allen Collins and Jason D. Benton.
Howard was scheduled to be sentenced on two counts of first-degree murder and a single count of unlawful firearm possession.
However, Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis agreed with the defense’s argument that one day was insufficient to review an affidavit that calculates Howard’s criminal history and how it applies to a potential prison sentence.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu previously said Howard’s out-of-state convictions should count as a “third-strike” offense. Under Washington’s three-strikes law, offenders convicted three times of certain violent and sexual felonies receive mandatory life sentences.
The judge postponed the sentencing, but the families of Allen Collins and Benton opted to share their comments with the court anyway.
Collins, 37, and Benton, 42, 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.
Roberta Hall spoke on behalf of Benton’s family, who decided against attending the sentencing after having to sit through the more than weeklong homicide trial.
Instead, Hall, a childhood friend of Benton, read a statement prepared by the family. It started with a prayer, and much of it continued with various passages from the Bible.
“On his last day alive, (Benton) was helping you,” Hall said to Howard. “Only a friend would show up to help with something like that … They were your friends, and you murdered them in cold blood.”
The family forgave Howard because they’re followers of Jesus Christ, Hall said. She then quoted Luke 6:37, advising Howard to apply its meaning to his life: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
The Collins family was more direct with their feelings about the killings.
Anell Collins said her brother left behind seven children, ages 1 to 18. All of them are cared for, she said.
The sister told Howard while wearing a red shirt featuring a picture of her brother that those children will grow up without their father.
“Your family will still get to talk to you. But we’re crying for your family, too, because your kids won’t have a father,” she said.
Terry Collins, Allen’s brother, lamented the actions that will likely mean Howard spends the rest of his life “in a cold cell, assigned a serial number.”
“It was for no reason,” Terry Collins said.
