Man expected to have prison term reduced
A Butler County Prison inmate charged with threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend during a prison phone call to his mother was sentenced Tuesday to more time in jail, but is expected to serve an abbreviated sentence after receiving credit for time served.
Jason A. Howard, 40, of Parker Township pleaded guilty July 10 to a single misdemeanor count of terroristic threats. He was sentenced Tuesday to 6 months to 1½ years in Butler County Prison by county Judge William Shaffer.
Howard, who has been in the county jail since July 20, 2016, on unrelated trespass charges and a probation violation, was charged in July of 2017 with making threats against his ex-girlfriend during a phone call made to his mother from behind bars.
In court documents, police say Howard threatened to kill the woman, bury her alive, set her on fire and dismember her.
“I dream of doing this (expletive),” he told his mother over the phone, according to court documents. “I lay in bed at night and think of all the ways I kill this (expletive).”
Court records show Howard has a history of threatening the victim, a 35-year-old Slippery Rock woman with whom he has a 4-year-old daughter.
In 2016 she obtained a three-year protection from abuse order against him. Howard violated that order by making 250 phone calls from jail to the woman between Dec. 19, 2016, and May 5, 2017.
Last year the woman told authorities that she was “scared for her well being,” according to court documents.
Shaffer handed down the sentence after a court proceeding during which both Howard and his mother pleaded for his immediate release.
Cheryl Howard testified that her son was sorely needed at home, to help fix problems with both her house and the house of her father, who is in poor health and in need of round-the-clock care.
“I need help. The workload ... is more than I can maintain,” she testified before Shaffer.
Howard, for his part, told Shaffer that he was a changed man and had used classes in jail and self-help books sent by his mother to learn how to manage his anger and deal with his issues.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope opposed the requests for immediate release, saying “actions have consequences,” and calling Howard's mother “an enabler” who at one point drove her son to the victim's home, where he assaulted her.
“There's a price to pay for what he's done,” Lope said.
It is not yet known how much credit for time-served Howard will receive on his most recent sentence. Public defender Joseph Smith said Howard has served 742 days in jail. Much of that came in relation to four supervision violation cases against him, two of which Shaffer ordered closed Tuesday.
Because of the large amount of time-served Howard had accrued, it was not immediately clear how much credit would be applied to the sentence handed down Tuesday. Smith said those calculations are done by jail officials, and could take several days to complete.
