‘A good person.’ Witnesses can’t say why a Columbus man gunned down his mom’s neighbor
Prosecutors began wrapping up their case Wednesday in the Columbus murder trial of Cyrus Howard Sr., calling witnesses to match a gun Howard had to bullets found at the scene of James Richardson Jr.’s fatal 2018 shooting.
Those bullets came from a Jennings Bryco .380-caliber pistol that Howard gave to an acquaintance after Richardson was gunned down shortly after 8 p.m. July 30, 2018 in his Hunter Ridge Circle home, where his wife found him dead about an hour later.
Assistant District Attorney Veronica Hansis has told jurors Howard walked to Richardson’s home from his mother’s house a few doors down, called Richardson to the front door and opened fire, the bullets striking Richardson six times as he tried to duck away, with Howard continuing to shoot as he followed the victim.
Leaving Richardson dying on his dining room floor, Howard walked back to his mother’s home, poured bleach over his clothes in a bathroom tub, and gave the gun to man who lived near an apartment Howard rented on Lee Street, Hansis said.
That acquaintance testified Wednesday, recounting that initially they hid the gun in some bushes, but he moved it when he saw some neighborhood youths ages 16-17 “about to do something stupid” with it. Eventually a cousin brought the pistol into his apartment, where detectives confiscated it after Howard told them who had it, he said.
Catherine Jordan, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation firearms specialist, said rounds test-fired from the Jennings Bryco .380 had markings that matched bullets police retrieved from Richardson’s home, showing they came from the same gun.
John Wassum, formerly an associate medical examiner with the GBI, testified an autopsy showed Richardson had five severe wounds and a sixth shot to the third finger of his left hand.
Richardson, 36, was shot through the right side, the bullet puncturing his heart and lungs; through the right arm, the bullet exiting the arm, entering his right side and lodging in his back; in the back of his right shoulder; in the middle of his back; and in the right side of his back, the bullet exiting his abdomen, Wassum said.
He said Richardson also had bruises apparently sustained when he collapsed on the floor, after being shot.
Missing motive
Wednesday’s court testimony shed no new light on why Howard killed Richardson, which neither he nor defense counsel William Kendrick have denied.
Howard told police Richardson had threatened his mother, and he felt compelled to act in her defense, but no evidence supports that.
Among the witnesses Wednesday was a close female friend who Howard said told him his mother was in danger.
Hansis asked the woman whether she ever said anything like that to Howard.
“No, I did not,” she replied.
Did she know James Richardson?
“No,” she said.
Kendrick asked her about Howard’s mental state, in the weeks leading up to the shooting. She said she had noticed he “was looking kind of rough.” But she did not mean he was unkempt, she added: “Like sad,” she told Kendrick.
She said Howard typically was not violent, but he had been shot years earlier in an unrelated incident, and since had acted “paranoid,” keeping a gun in his home.
The acquaintance to whom Howard gave the pistol testified that Howard’s Lee Street neighbors did not consider him to be dangerous or unpredictable. “He was a good person,” the witness said.
Testifying Wednesday afternoon, Detective Stuart Carter, the lead investigator in Howard’s homicide, told Kendrick police checked into several tips on why someone might shoot Richardson, but none were valid.
Howard hasn’t pleaded not guilty by reason of mental incapacity, as a psychological evaluation found him competent to stand trial. Police and prosecutors say his recorded interviews with Carter show him to be coherent, and cognizant of his predicament.
Howard, 52, is on trial for murder, aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a crime, and he faces life in prison if convicted.
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 3:12 PM.