Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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closeSaturday, Nov. 14, 2009
Pasco man found guilty of 2008 armed robbery
By Paula Horton, Herald staff writer
Nearly a year after robbing a Kennewick couple at gunpoint and eluding capture for several months, a 28-year-old Pasco man learned Friday he'll be going back to prison.
Chancey Howard was found guilty by a jury in Benton County Superior Court of first-degree robbery with a special allegation that a firearm was involved, and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The jury was selected Monday, but testimony in the case didn't begin until Thursday. Jurors began deliberating at 2:30 p.m. Friday and returned with a verdict in less than two hours.
Howard is expected in court next week to find out when he'll be sentenced.
Howard was convicted of going to a Kennewick apartment on Nov. 25, 2008, pulling a gun on a couple and stealing their cash and personal belongings.
The robbery set off a manhunt for Howard, who had been out of prison for less than two months after serving more than two years for a first-degree robbery and felony harassment conviction.
Howard managed to avoid capture for about five months until he was shot in the hand April 13 by Phillip Zermeno in retaliation for an earlier confrontation where he allegedly robbed Zermeno after putting a box cutter to the man's neck.
Howard fled before police arrived, but investigators tracked him to California and he was picked up by U.S. marshals a week later.
Howard still faces a Dec. 7 first-degree robbery trial for the incident with Zermeno. Zermeno is doing a four-year, two-month sentence for his assault on Howard.
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