New Delay In Child Killer Howard Ault's Date With Death
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) –A South Florida man on death row for killing a pair of young sisters in 1996 and stuffing their bodies in his attic went before a Broward judge Friday to drop his death penalty appeals and fire his attorneys, but once there, told the judge he had not received his prescribed anti-depressant medication in two days.
The judge ordered Broward prosecutors to make sure Howard Steven Ault is given his medications and ordered him back to court on Sunday in a rare weekend court hearing.
This isn't the first time Ault has delayed a hearing regarding his execution.
In September 2011, Ault appeared in court ready to drop his death penalty appeals and set an execution day but wavered and said he wasn't quite sure he's ready to die. He also told the judge he had not been given his prescribed psychiatric medication.
The court could not proceed with the hearing because Ault wasn't certain about wanting to drop his appeals.
Ault was convicted in 1999 of raping and murdering 11-year-old DeAnn Mu'min and murdering her 7-year-old sister, Alicia Jones, in Oakland Park in 1996.
At the time of the murders, the girls' mother, Donna Jones was homeless and living with her daughters in Easterlin Park in Oakland Park. Ault had befriended Jones at the campground.
On Nov. 4, 1996, Ault offered her daughters a ride home from school in his truck. Instead, he drove them to his house in Fort Lauderdale, where he raped DeAnn, then strangled her and her sister. He then hid their bodies in his attic. Their bodies were found two days later.
After the original jury recommended the death penalty, Gold sentenced Ault to death. But the sentence was overturned in 2003 by the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled that Gold erred in dismissing a potential juror who expressed opposition to the death penalty.
Four years later, another jury again recommended the death penalty. And again, Gold sentenced Ault to die.
