For the second time, a Santa Rosa woman who killed an innocent bystander during her drug-fueled chase of her lover has been refused parole.
Police say Heather Anne Howell, who was 28 years old at the time, was high on marijuana and cocaine and drunk on vodka cranberries when she fought with her boyfriend in July 2012.
When her boyfriend rode out on his motorcycle from Howell’s house on Hartman Lane, she was right behind him in her black Acura.
People saw Howell weaving in and out of traffic at up to 80 mph, running red lights, and yelling from the driver’s side window.
People saw her pumping her fist and pointing her hand like a gun at her running boyfriend while she screamed “yee haw” at different times.
He hit the back of a 1969 Triumph convertible being driven by Santa Rosa man Jesse Garcia six miles into the chase.
When the convertible flipped over, Garcia was pinned under it as it caught fire. Garcia, 56, died from his wounds.
Howell’s previous DUI conviction and lack of remorse made her fate clear at trial. It took the jury just over four hours to find her guilty of murder, reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, and vehicular manslaughter while drunk.
Judge Robert LaForge of the Sonoma County Superior Court said that Howell used crocodile tears “to get some kind of sympathy from the jury” when it was time to sentence her.
It’s hard for me to forget what I saw for weeks: some kind of manipulation that wasn’t right, and it wasn’t someone showing sorrow for anyone but themselves, he said. Howell was given a prison sentence of 15 years to life.
It was the first time that Howell asked for parole, and it was turned down in July 2022. Her second petition was also turned down on Thursday.
The 41-year-old woman is currently in jail at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Her next hearing with the parole board is set for October 2027.
In a statement, Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said, “Howell has shown that even after 13 years in prison and a lot of programs to help her change, she still poses an unreasonable risk of harm to the public.” As a result, we agree with the Board’s decision not to grant parole.
