LIMA — A Lima man charged with the murder of a man while robbing his home will face a jury on Nov. 29.
Na’Zier Howard, 19, is charged with murder, aggravated murder and having weapons under disability in connection with the 2019 shooting death of Kevonta Cowan.
In a motion hearing Monday morning, Howard’s public defender Kenneth Sturgill said that they object to the use of any educational documents as evidence because their use would be a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Howard was a juvenile at the time of the alleged crime.
Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Destiny Caldwell said the state does not intend to use those documents, which had been analyzed for handwriting samples, and they have obtained samples from other documents. It was not clear what purpose the handwriting analysis will serve in the upcoming trial.
According to court records, police were called on the evening of Dec. 17, 2019, to 225 S. Kenilworth Ave. in Lima and found Cowan suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The grand jury indictments allege the shooting occurred as Howard was committing, attempting to commit or fleeing immediately after an offense of aggravated burglary and/or an offense of violence.
Howard is serving a 14-year prison sentence at the London Correctional Institution for armed robberies at Hermies Party Shop and Little Caesar’s in Lima. He and co-defendant Juan Freeman were each juveniles at the time of the robberies. Freeman was sentenced to 28 years in prison for participating in the robberies and in October of last year had four years added to that sentence for escaping from juvenile detention and eluding law enforcement for six weeks.
Reach Jessica Orozco at 564-242-0398 or on Twitter @JessicaCOrozco.
