ELYRIA — Even as he stood before a county judge on Monday awaiting sentencing, Alverno Howse Jr. continued to insist that he wasn’t responsible for the shooting death of his best friend.

“You’re all putting an innocent man in prison,” he told Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski, who imposed the maximum sentence of 13 years on Howse.

A jury convicted Howse last month of reckless homicide and tampering with evidence charges in connection with the death of 17-year-old Charles “Chuckie” Howard Jr.

Howard was shot once in the chest on Aug. 19 at a Taft Avenue home, and prosecutors said during the trial that Howse was holding the gun when it accidentally went off.

More photos below.

Howse then fled the scene and disposed of the gun, which never has been recovered, prosecutors said.

A teary-eyed Lisa Barrios, Howard’s mother, told Betleski that Howse wasn’t taking responsibility for killing her son and had even fallen asleep during his trial.

“Alverno Howse took away all the new beginnings and second chances that Charles had,” she said.

Linda Clifton, Howard’s maternal grandmother, said she has trouble getting the image of her grandson shortly after he died out of her head. He had one eye still open as he lay there and she said she couldn’t close it because of the needs of the investigation.

“No amount of years is going to bring him back,” Clifton said after the hearing. “It should never have happened.”
Howse wasn’t without his supporters in the courtroom Monday.

His mother, Christine Prokop said she knew Howard well and loved and missed him, but she urged Betleski to be lenient with her son.

“Please know that my son is not a lost cause,” Prokop said.

Alverno Howse Sr. said no one knows what happened in the moments before Howard was shot.

“My family’s truly sorry for the death of Little Chuckie, but my son did not murder Little Chuckie,” he said.

The Rev. Charles “Chuckie” Howard Sr. told Howse that he hoped Howse finds Christ in prison.

“I am of the firm belief that you done it, but I told you when I came out to see you at the county jail that I don’t hate you,” he said.

As Howse was led from the courtroom, his family called out that they loved him and his brother, Chris Howse, told him to call him when he got back to jail.

Alverno Howse Jr. also said he planned to appeal his conviction.

Betleski told Howse before he imposed the prison sentence that if Howse had done the right thing in the beginning or if he had taken a plea bargain that would have resolved the reckless homicide and two unrelated cases, he would have received a far shorter prison sentence.

Howse’s trial was fraught with problems including shifting witness testimony and allegations of witness intimidation that prompted Betleski to clear the courtroom of everyone but the media during some witnesses’ testimony. He also ordered the media not to report the names of three witnesses.

A heavy police presence was evident throughout the trial — and the courtroom had several deputies on hand during Monday’s sentencing — because of security concerns brought on with Howse’s alleged affiliation with M.A. Zone, or Middle Avenue Zone, an Elyria gang he is reputedly a member of.

Howse said during Monday’s hearing that there was no proof that he was a gang member and that he has never faced a gang charge.

During the trial, police and prosecutors used photos of Howse taken from M.A. Zone’s Myspace.com site as part of their rationale for asking the courtroom to be closed.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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