Howell v. State

Paul Augustus Howell, a prisoner under sentence and active warrant of death, appeals the trial court’s order summarily denying his successive motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851.1 Howell was convicted and sentenced to death when the bomb he constructed, with the specific purpose of killing a witness, instead detonated and killed a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper. This Court upheld Howell’s convictions and death sentence on direct appeal in 1998, Howell v. State, 707 So.2d 674, 683 (Fla.1998), and affirmed the trial court’s denial of…