Peace at last for Deede Keller
The courtroom was quiet and tense this morning. The day could've gone a number of ways. Defense attorney Andrew Flier was in the court's lock-up with Erwin Howard. The jury, expecting day three of Howard's trial, were waiting in the hallway. In court, nothing is ever a done deal until it's on the record - and Howard had had a whole weekend to mull the plea deal he seemed ready to accept last week.
"I don't know what's going to happen," Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told the courtroom crowded with Keller's friends and family. "It's like when the refs spend a lot of time in the replay booth."
Nearby rested a never-used poster board. On two sides, Flier wrote all the ways he planned to tell the jury Howard was innocent of Keller's slaying: no DNA, no physical evidence, no injuries to Howard.... The opening statement that went with the board was never delivered. Instead, in an 11th hour decision, Howard decided to admit he had killed Keller, but his attorney was going to try to convince the six men and six women on the Los Angeles Superior Court jury the killing was in the heat of passion and amounted to voluntary manslaughter.
Within hours, the attorneys were buzzing around the coutroom, and there was a sensation of something big looming. By the end of the court day, the deal was presented to Keller's family: Howard pleads guilty to second-degree murder and gets 15 to life in prison, but no one from Keller's family can oppose parole when he's eligible in 12 years. And, Howard would have to face his former wife's family and explain what he did to kill the 54-year-old beloved El Segundo resident and real estate agent.
Lewin, who met with Howard Friday as the negotiations got underway, turned once again to the family. He told them he believed Howard was a good man, who had done a terribly bad thing and feels deep remorse. "I do believe he's going to be truthful about what happened," Lewin said. "Be ready. Be prepared."
And tell Howard did. However, what was more surprising than his detailed confession was how Keller's two adult children, siblings and friends reacted. They thanked him, told him he did the right thing by confessing now, and expressed sorrow for him. It's the kind of good you can only imagine people have inside of them, and that you can only hope you'd have in the same circumstances.
A brief story on today's courtroom proceedings is up here at dailybreeze.com. Later, we will post video from inside the courtroom taken by Daily Breeze photographer Brad Graverson. A full story on the day's events will be posted later today, too.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
Will you be posting either a transcript of Howard's explanation, or at least the details, either on the blog or in the newspaper?
We will have his full confession, which we videotaped, up shortly at www.dailybreeze.com - along with my updated story giving more details of the crime.