LIMA — In a blue, dress button-up shirt, Brooks Howton, 33, shook his head in disbelief as the jury found him guilty on four of five counts Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
Howton was found guilty on charges of rape, burglary, kidnapping and felonious assault for an incident that occurred Aug. 7 inside a home on South Main Street. On the night of the incident, Howton’s former girlfriend said Howton arrived at her home smelling of alcohol and pushed her down on the bed, raping her.
Friends and family of the victim appeared stunned when Judge Jeffrey Reed discussed an inability to reach a verdict on all five counts with the jury foreman. However, those possible fears were quickly relieved as the jury passed down guilty verdicts on the four counts. The victim and her supporters shared tears as the verdicts were passed down.
Jurors deliberated from about 5 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Monday and again from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday. Much of the time was spent trying to reach an agreement on count 4, the first of two rape charges. Two jurors asked did not want to discuss the reasoning of not being able to reach an agreement. Reed declared a mistrial on that charge.
The two were seeing each other in a serious relationship. The couple had sex on a regular basis, Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Terri Kohlrieser said in her opening statement April 26. After the rape, Howton continued to follow the victim around the home and would not leave. The victim said Howton then began choking her to the point where she lost consciousness.
After she regained consciousness, the victim said Howton made her clean blood off his shoes and wash bedding with blood stains. He began asking her forgiveness. She told him she didn’t think she could forgive him for what he just did, Kohlrieser said.
Howton took the stand Thursday and said he did hit and grab the victim, but it was only in self-defense when the victim assaulted him. Howton testified that he wished he would have used more self-control because he was a man, but that he did not rape her. He said one of the engagements of sex was “makeup sex.” The victim later escaped by saying she had to use the bathroom and escaping out a window.
Howton was scheduled for sentencing on the charges at 8:30 a.m. June 13.
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