Broward jury votes to return girls’ killer to death row, for the third time

A Broward jury voted on Thursday to send a convicted killer back to death row, effectively ending his third attempt to avoid execution for the 1997 murders of a preteen he raped and her 7-year-old sister, who witnessed the crime.

Howard Steven Ault, 57, has been sent to death row twice for the crime, first in 1999 and again in 2007. Both recommendations were overturned, though his convictions were upheld. The jury that heard the case against him this month decided unanimously that prosecutors proved the murders were heinous, atrocious and cruel, among other “aggravating factors” that must be proved to legally permit a death sentence.

But the actual recommendation was not unanimous. Only nine of the 12 jurors voted to sentence Ault to death by lethal injection. Had his trial been held a year earlier, Ault would have been spared execution and sentenced to life in prison because Florida law at the time required a unanimous vote.

That changed last spring when the Florida Legislature, reacting to the sentencing of the Parkland mass shooter, changed the requirement to an 8-4 majority. Convicted killer Nikolas Cruz is serving 34 life sentences for the murders he committed six years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

While a death sentence is the most likely outcome for Ault, his fate is not sealed. Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein scheduled a hearing April 22 to listen to any additional evidence and arguments from both sides, giving defense lawyer Joseph Kimok and his team a final chance to persuade him to override the jury’s recommendation and spare Ault’s life.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.