A jury sentenced a renowned double child murderer to death for the 1996 killings of two little sisters for the third time.
Second juries have considered Howard Steven Ault, 57, who was sentenced to death in 2000, but appeals and revisions to Florida's death row process have led to a 9-3 vote to kill him this week, as per Daily Mail.
Florida Resentences Ault to Death Row
Following an elevated 9-3 decision, jurors have chosen to send Howard Steven Ault back to Florida's death row for the third occasion. The 57-year-old was up for resentencing due to the 1996 murders of DeAnn Emerald Mu'min, 11, and Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7. Ault had enticed the unsuspecting sisters into his Fort Lauderdale duplex with the false promise of Halloween candy.
This outcome hinged on the votes of just eight jurors due to a law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last April, allowing a death sentence recommendation with an 8-4 vote instead of a unanimous decision. DeSantis championed this change following the sparing of the Parkland school shooter from the death penalty in 2022.
Under the current state law, a jury must unanimously find that prosecutors have proven at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt. They must also weigh these factors against mitigating circumstances that provide context about the defendant and could argue against the death penalty.
Ault's resentencing comes in the wake of a 2017 decision by the Florida Supreme Court, granting him a new sentencing hearing. The court found Florida's death penalty process unconstitutional as it did not mandate unanimous decisions by jurors.
In the initial sentencing in 2000, jurors had chosen to send Ault to the electric chair. However, concerns about the jury selection process prompted the Florida Supreme Court to order a new sentencing three years later, according to Miami Herald.
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Testimony on Fetal Alcohol Disorder in Ault Trial
Even with Ault confessing to luring the girls with the intent to rape DeAnn and later shifting his plan to avoid capture, the defense urged jurors to consider a life sentence. Defense attorney Lien Lafargue, displaying a photo of Ault as a baby, painted a picture of a "mentally broken" man born into a family that failed to love or protect him.
Lafargue emphasized Ault's troubled family background, detailing a physically violent father, an alcoholic mother who overlooked sexual abuse, and Ault's fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
During the trial, expert testimony clarified the significance of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as an umbrella term affecting functioning. Prosecutor Zaccor, however, argued against a life sentence, stating that it would be akin to letting Ault go free, given his existing life sentence for a 1995 sexual assault.
Ault's heinous crimes involved the rape and murder of the two sisters, discovered in the attic of his Fort Lauderdale residence. The victims, enticed by the promise of Halloween candy, faced unimaginable horrors at the hands of Ault. His actions, now subject to repeated sentencing and legal scrutiny, underscore the complex nature of justice and the ongoing debate surrounding capital punishment, Local 10 reported.
