Prosecutors believe that Arkangel Howard is facing a life sentence without the possibility of release after a jury found him guilty Friday morning in the fatal shooting of two Portland-area men at an east Vancouver apartment complex.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said the convictions should count as a “third-strike” offense. Under the state’s three-strikes law, offenders convicted three times of certain violent and sexual felonies receive mandatory life sentences.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before finding Howard, 32, of Portland guilty as charged in the murders of Allen J. Collins Jr. and Jason D. Benton.
Collins, 37, and Benton, 42, were helping Howard move his then-girlfriend’s belongings when he shot them on the evening of March 19 in the apartment complex’s parking lot. A motive was never revealed.
Howard will be sentenced April 20 on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
“I believe it was a just verdict, a correct verdict based upon the evidence presented in this case,” Vu said afterward.
He said Howard’s prior convictions in Oregon should be comparable to crimes here that would count as strike offenses.
It was unclear what crimes may qualify, however. Multnomah County court records show a number of cases for Howard, including felony convictions for third-degree robbery from 2004, attempting to commit a class A felony from 2005 and hindering prosecution from 2008.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis will decide if Howard’s out-of-state crimes should count as strike offenses.
If Lewis doesn’t find that Howard is facing a third strike, each count of murder would run consecutive to one other, as would firearm enhancements the jury found, Vu said.
The jury heard more than a week’s worth of testimony; it received the case late Thursday afternoon.
Howard’s defense attorney, Steve Rucker, said he believes the jury worked hard and looked closely at the testimony and scientific evidence.
“This is their decision whether we agree with it or not. The jury did its job,” he said.
