State Missouri v. Samuel Howard and Steve

In December 1991, defendant Samuel Howard shot and killed Terry Easley and Billy Joe Luttrell during a fight involving the victims and another defendant, Steve Allen Bowen. 1 The state charged both Howard and Bowen with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action. Howard and Bowen defended on the basis that both homicides were justified as Howard acted in the justified defense of Bowen. A jury rejected their defense and found Samuel Howard guilty of murder in the first degree, § 565.020.1, RSMo 1986, and two counts of armed criminal action, § 571.015, RSMo. 1986. Because Howard was found to be a prior offender, the trial court imposed his punishment, § 558.016. He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment without possibility of parole and a ten-year term on one of the armed criminal action charges. 2 All sentences were ordered to be served concurrently.