A Hot Springs man convicted last month of stabbing another man in 2015 and sentenced to two and half years in prison pleaded guilty Tuesday to the 2013 burglary of a local business and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Gregory Everette Howell, 47, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to one felony count of commercial burglary and one count of failure to appear and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count, with four years suspended, to run concurrently with each other and his sentence from his Nov. 30 conviction for second-degree battery.
Howell was convicted on the battery charge by a seven-man, five-woman jury after a two-day trial in circuit court. In addition to prison time, he was ordered to pay $3,405 in restitution to the victim and $420 in court costs.
Howell had reportedly stabbed the man on June 15, 2015, after Howell's live-in girlfriend got into a vehicle driven by the victim while she was arguing with Howell. He reportedly stabbed the victim in the abdomen which later required emergency surgery.
According to the affidavit on the commercial burglary charge, on June 16, 2013, around 6:30 a.m., the owner of Just Swanky, a shop located at 340 Ouachita Ave., reported someone had burglarized his business, shattering several pieces of glass at the front of the building.
Several pieces of jewelry, valued at $500, and the cash register were found to be missing. Several drops of blood were located on the sidewalk just outside the point of entry and smeared blood was found on the jewelry counter inside and near where the cash register had been.
Samples of the blood were collected and sent to the state crime lab in Little Rock for analysis. On Oct. 24, 2013, a DNA profile was obtained from the blood sample and entered into the criminal database.
On Feb. 23, 2016, the crime lab reported the DNA profile had been matched to a convicted offender, identified as Howell. A warrant was issued for Howell's arrest and he was taken into custody on March 17, 2016. He was released on $30,000 bond on Sept. 20, 2016, pending trial.
Howell was arrested again on Aug. 8, 2017, for failure to appear and had remained in custody since then.
Local on 12/16/2017