COLUMBIANA COUNTY Judge sentences man in baby daughter's death

The man said he dropped the baby when she started choking.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LISBON -- Christopher Howells is going to prison for four years for his daughter's death, which he says was an accident.
Judge David Tobin of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court sentenced Howells, 29, of Carey Road, Butler Township, on Wednesday. Howells had pleaded guilty in April to involuntary manslaughter.
Howells was charged in the death of 3-month-old Ashton Howells, who was injured May 14 and died nine days later. He could have gotten up to 10 years in prison, but assistant prosecutor Tim McNicol recommended a four-year term.
McNicol said Howells has insisted all along that he dropped the baby accidentally. Howells told authorities that the baby began choking while he was holding her on his lap. When he stood suddenly, the child fell and hit her head on a coffee table, he said.
What tests showed
But McNicol said forensic tests showed that the child's injuries were from more than a fall. He said there was evidence of shaken-baby syndrome and that the girl suffered injuries including a fractured skull, blood on her brain and a bruised liver.
"It was a totally abusive act," McNicol said.
Howells had nothing to say to Judge Tobin before he was sentenced. His family sobbed as he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom. They said it was the child's mother, not Howells, who caused the injuries.
Howells' attorney, Eric J. Yavitch of Columbus, said Howells accepts "full legal responsibility" for the baby's death, but not moral responsibility.
"He will answer to some power higher than you or me," Yavitch said to Judge Tobin.
bjackson@vindy.com