A Broward judge sentenced convicted killer Howard Steven Ault to death Tuesday for the 1996 murders of two young girls at his home in Fort Lauderdale.
Ault, 57, had been sent to death row twice for the killings of DeAnn Emerald Mu’min, 11, and Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, both of Oakland Park. His first death sentence came in 1999 and the second in 2007. Both recommendations were overturned, though his conviction was upheld.
Already a convicted pedophile in 1996, Ault befriended a homeless woman who was living out of a pop-up camper in Oakland Park’s John Easterlin Park. As the woman’s two daughters were walking home from Lloyd Estates Elementary School on Nov. 6, 1996, Ault lured them to his home with the promise of Halloween candy. He raped the 11-year-old sister, Mu’min, while 7-year-old Jones watched. After killing them, he hid their bodies in his attic.
The latest jury to consider his sentence concluded in February that he deserved to be executed. Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein imposed the sentence Tuesday.
But the actual recommendation was not unanimous. Only nine of the 12 jurors voted to sentence Ault to death by lethal injection.
Under Florida law, death penalty recommendations no longer have to be unanimous.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.