Verdict may be reached today
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 15, 2016 1:46 PM
A verdict could be reached today in the murder trial of James Carnell Howard, 36, as closing arguments are expected to begin at 10 a.m., depending on the weather.
Iced roads caused a number of wrecks this morning and forced area schools already operating on delayed schedules to close.
Jurors were supposed to report at 9:30 a.m. today, after being sent home Thursday following both the state and defense having rested their respective presentations of evidence.
Howard is charged in the 2009 double murder of two Indian immigrants who lived and worked at the America's Best Value Inn in Goldsboro. The prosecution alleges Howard shot and killed Suryakant and Bhavanaben Patel -- both in their 60s -- inside the couples first-floor hotel room in an apparent robbery.
District Attorney Matthew Delbridge told jurors Howard stripped the couple of their jewelry and cash and fled, locking the deceased housekeepers in their room, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2009. Their bodies lay undiscovered until the next morning when the Patels failed to report for work.
Howard, identified early on as a suspect, was charged a month later after being arrested at another area hotel on unrelated charges. Police found what later prove to be the murder weapon behind the bed in Howard's room at the Irish Inn, 1104 Sunburst Drive.
That, coupled with DNA evidence showing Howard was inside the Patel's room and the fact that a cell phone stolen from the victims was traced back to Howard, solidify his guilt, according to the state's case.
Howard, representing himself in the case, denies responsibility for the murders and -- with assistance from "standby counsel" Steven M. Fisher who is assisting Howard in a limited capacity -- contested the state's evidence.
Howard suggested through a defense expert in forensic evidence that his DNA could have gotten on the inside door handle of the Patel's room by transfer, meaning after he shook hands and shared a pack of cigarettes with Patel.
A 12-person jury will hear closing arguments form Delbridge and Howard today. The jury will then, after hearing instructions form Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Paul Jones, of Kinston, decide Howard's fate.
With the death penalty taken off the table in an earlier proceeding, the maximum penalty Howard faces if convicted would be life in prison without the possibility of parole.