‘No coming back.’ Columbus man sentenced in murder of mother’s neighbor
One Columbus man’s family will never see him again. Another one’s family will see him only in prison, where he’s to spend the rest of his life.
Cyrus Bradford Howard Sr., who gunned down his mother’s neighbor James Richardson Jr. over what he claimed was an imagined threat, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday.
His attorney William Kendrick argued Judge Ron Mullins should sentence the 52-year-old to life with the possibility of parole, noting Howard would have to serve at least 30 years.
“So he’s going to be 82 years old before he’s eligible for release,” Kendrick told the court.
The defense attorney said Howard took responsibility for gunning Richardson down in the man’s Hunter Ridge Circle home: “From the beginning of the trial we never denied that Mr. Howard was responsible for this,” he said. Howard would rectify that if he could, Kendrick added, but, “There’s no way to do it.”
Howard would not have killed Richardson if not for “the delusion that he was under at the time,” the attorney said.
Howard claimed that he believed Richardson, who lived near Howard’s mother Claudia Mahone, was threatening her, and was associated with a violent street gang or other group that would break into her home to attack her.
Police found no evidence to support that, and no other motive for Howard to shoot Richardson repeatedly on July 30, 2018.
Prosecutor Veronica Hansis dismissed Kendrick’s claims, telling Mullins she had offered Howard a sentence of life with parole, had he been willing to plead guilty instead of going to trial, and he did not accept that.
Howard’s claiming to have acted under a paranoid delusion showed he did not accept responsibility for his actions, she said: “What I have not yet heard is a complete admission of guilt.”
Howard still made excuses for killing Richardson, with no evidence to back them, she said: “The absence of a motive does not mean the defendant is delusional.”
After hearing testimony from Richardson’s widow and two of his children, Mullins rejected Kendrick’s arguments, saying he’d rarely seen a case in which the evidence was so “overwhelmingly against the defendant.”
Besides sentencing Howard to life with no parole on charges of murder and aggravated assault, the judge added five years for using a gun to commit a felony.
The testimony
Among those addressing the court Wednesday were Richardson’s widow, Tomeka Pugh, and a son and daughter.
“Cyrus, what you did has turned our lives upside-down,” Pugh told Howard, adding two of her sons saw Richardson’s body when they came home with her that night. Other children saw authorities removing the corpse in a body bag, she said.
Losing their father has caused “unimaginable trauma” to the children who will have to learn to get by without his guidance, she said.
“I wish I could say that I forgive you, but I just can’t,” Pugh said, later adding, “There’s no coming back from this.”
Speaking for the defendant, Howard’s mother said he would never have killed her neighbor “had he been in his right mind.” A retired sheriff’s deputy said Howard leads a jail Bible study now. “He has committed from this day forward to go and serve the Lord,” the witness said.
The trial
A jury in 90 minutes’ deliberation Nov. 3 convicted Howard after an emotional day of testimony from the defendant, who broke down on the witness stand. “To the victim’s family, I’m sorry, y’all. I wasn’t right,” he said.
The evidence showed Howard knocked on Richardson’s door shortly after 8 p.m., and started shooting as soon as it opened.
When Richardson fled, Howard followed, firing until he emptied the .380-caliber pistol. Richardson was shot six times, in the arm, chest, hand and back, one bullet piercing his heart, a medical examiner testified.
Leaving Richardson dying in the dining room, Howard walked back to his mother’s house and put his clothes in a tub of bleach.
When he took the witness stand, Howard recounted having served in the military, where he left after two years because of a stroke. He was shot twice during a robbery in February 2016, and became paranoid after that, suffering post-traumatic stress, he said. “I was in a coma for three days,” he said.
After that, he started using drugs and “being paranoid, hearing voices, things like this,” he testified.
This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 4:32 PM.