ASHDOWN — The defense attorney for a man accused of killing an Ashdown couple and trying to kill their baby has requested a mistrial after testimony from the state's chief medical examiner.
Timothy Lamont Howard, 45, was granted a new trial in November 2013 because of evidence the defense didn't have at trial in 1999. He was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the 1997 deaths of Brian and Shannon Day, as well as attempted capital murder in the attempted strangulation of the couple's 7-month-old son.
Howard received two death sentences, an additional 30-year sentence and a $15,000 fine.
The mistrial request Wednesday afternoon was prompted by an issue similar to the one that led Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan to toss Howard's earlier convictions, the Texarkana Gazette reported. His lead defense attorney, Patrick Benca, claimed the case has been plagued by numerous problems, including notes on DNA testing the defense didn't have in 1999.
A pair of leather work boots, which experts said contained hairs matching Howard's DNA and Brian Day's blood, was the key linking Howard to the killings during the first trial.
Benca asked state Crime Laboratory Chief Medical Examiner Charles Kokes on Wednesday if the patterned injuries found on Day's upper body could've been caused by someone stomping on him while wearing boots. Kokes said he was unable to "rule in or rule out" the boots as the source of the patterns on Day's face, head and neck.
The jury was removed from the courtroom so both sides could debate Kokes' boot-to-injury comparison notes from 2014. Kokes handed Benca a page of notes detailing an attempt to compare the boots to photos from Day's autopsy, which the defense had never seen before.
Benca then argued for a mistrial because the notes could've aided in Howard's defense had they been processed before the second trial.
Yeargan offered to grant the defense a continuance so the boot-stomp comparison could be developed further.
He declined to make a ruling Wednesday, but said he probably wouldn't grant a motion for a mistrial.