FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Howard Steven Ault is no stranger to what’s happening in court on Tuesday.
Ault was convicted of the heinous murder of two little girls back in 1999. He was sentenced to death both that year and again in 2007.
Successful appeals after both of those sentences now require a jury to consider his fate again.
On Tuesday, Ault attended his third penalty phase trial.
During the hearing, jurors heard from witnesses, including Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones, a renowned researcher in the field of medical disorders.
“Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is not a diagnosis, it’s an umbrella term,” Jones said on the stand. “It too is very important in terms of our functioning, and in Mr. Ault’s case, it’s important in terms of his behavior.”
Ault was on death row for the 1996 rape and murder of two sisters, who were just 11 and 7 years old. The victims were found in the attic of his Fort Lauderdale home -- a stunning crime that shocked South Florida.
According to investigators, Ault lured the sisters into his duplex, promising them Halloween candy.
He then raped DeAnn Emerald Mu’min in front of her younger sister, Sybilla Jones, before strangling both girls, authorities said.
The now 54-year-old’s initial sentencing trial was appealed and later upheld in 2007, but not by a unanimous decision, which led him to win his appeal.
When Ault was in court five years ago, he asked for a new lawyer.