Huntsville man pleads guilty, sentenced for killing wife in 2021 during family game night
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A 46-year-old Huntsville man will spend five years in prison after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing his wife in 2021.
Russell Howard was charged with killing his wife Jamie on February 6, 2021. He was initially charged with murder, but that charge was reduced to manslaughter last December.
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He pleaded guilty for the shooting death of his wife, and Judge Comer handed him a 20-year sentence, split to serve five years followed by three years of probation.
HPD investigators said at the time of the shooting that her death happened during a domestic situation. However, both the state and defense said in court Wednesday that there is no evidence to indict that there had been a dispute.
Russell Howard said that his family was having a game night, playing dominoes and drinking the night of the shooting. He had friends Facetimed him and he was showing them the gun before he threw it on their bed before returning to the game night.
When the couple went to bed, he noticed the gun still in the bed, and this is when he said it went off and hit Jamie Howard. He said he attempted to perform CPR on her.
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The state argued that he broke every cardinal rule of gun safety and that with his 15-year military career, he should've known better.
Russell Howard said he wasn't trained with the gun and that he didn't handle one like it during his time in the service.
'I was at fault for having the weapon without training,' said Howard.
Russell apologized to Jamie's family before being sentenced.
During the hearing, Jamie Howard's daughter and sister testified to how her death has changed their life and the trauma they have had to go through.
'He robbed my sister of her life and her children of their mother,' said Howard's sister Latesha Tuitt.The state argued that Russell should be sentenced to 15 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections, while his defense attorney Patrick Arrington asked Judge Comer to sentence him to probation.
'He made a tragic error that he will live with the rest of his life,' said Arrington.
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