Man found guilty in Larimer shooting

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A man already serving a 20year federal prison sentence for heroin trafficking was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in a 2014 killing in Larimer.

Rodney Howard, 33, of Lincoln-Lemington, will be sentenced Wednesday to a mandatory prison term of life without parole by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel. A jury deliberated about two hours Thursday before returning its verdict.

Police said Howard killed Hosea Davis, 37, about 12:45 p.m. Jan. 20, 2014, on Rapidan Way. Howard was arrested eight monthslater in Baldwin.

Assistant District Attorney Alicia Werner told the jury in her closing argument Wednesday that Howard wore a black mask during the shooting to hide his faceand carried an assault rifle.

A key witness in the case testified that he saw Howard that day wearing the same gray sweatsuit he’d been wearing three days earlier and carrying the long gun. Immediately after the shooting, Ms. Werner said, the witness said he saw Howard standing over Davis’ body.

Defense attorney James Wymard argued that the key witness, who has a history of crimes of deception, was a heroin addict who used 14 bags in the day before the shooting and couldn’t be relied upon.

Davis earned notoriety in 2013 when he and another man intervened when a 16-year-old girl was stabbed at the Target store in East Liberty.