Man Gets 15 Years to Life in Hammer Slaying of Friend

A 19-year-old Encino man, who hammered a friend to death for refusing to loan him money for a date, was convicted of second-degree murder Monday and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Kevin Scott Howerton, who was traced by a bloody footprint, was found guilty after a non-jury trial heard by Judge John P. Farrell in San Fernando Superior Court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Lockfield said Howerton killed Jeff Ross, 39, of Northridge at Ross’s house in the 9000 block of White Oak Avenue last November during an attempt to borrow money so he could take out his girlfriend.

“It’s a sad case,” Lockfield said. “He wanted to impress his girlfriend so he killed his friend to do it.”

Howerton and Ross had been friends for several years. Howerton at one time lived with Ross and Ross had given him money in the past, prosecutors said.

But when Howerton asked for money in November, Ross refused.

“When the guy refused to give him the money, Howerton hit him over the head with a hammer,” Lockfield said. “He kept hitting him and hitting him until the guy was dead.” Howerton struck the man 23 times with a hammer, Lockfield said, and took $1,000 from him.

According to court records, Ross died of blunt-force trauma.

Investigators found a bloody footprint on a piece of white paper in the bedroom of Ross’s home. Tests revealed that the print matched a pair of “Vision Street Wear” tennis shoes owned by Howerton and worn on the day of the murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Darren Robert Levine said the shoe was a key piece of evidence.

“Shoes leave a different impression,” Levine said. “Everybody walks differently. Everybody steps on different things,” which leave distinctive marks on shoe soles, he said. Lab tests showed that only the shoe owned by Howerton and “no other shoe could have made that print,” found at the scene, Levine said.

Howerton later confessed to the crime.

In passing sentence, Farrell noted “the cold-blooded” way Howerton killed Ross and the reason for the murder. “I don’t know if that has impacted you,” Farrell said, “just the fact that you killed him the way you did.”

But Farrell also noted that Howerton confessed to the crime and had shown some degree of “acceptance and remorse.”

“You didn’t present a defense that was full of malarkey. I think there should be a certain amount of credit for that,” the judge said, giving Howerton one year less than the maximum possible term of 16 years for second-degree murder with a special allegation of use of a deadly weapon.