Her attorney says it was just an "accident," but if Heather Anne Howell really did what police and prosecutors say she did last Saturday on Hall Road west of Santa Rosa, there should be no question about whether second-degree murder is the appropriate charge in her case.
After all, if the 28-year-old Santa Rosa woman had picked up a gun and shot at her boyfriend, but instead hit and killed an innocent bystander, would anyone question throwing the book at her?
Why should it be different when the weapon is a car?
As a society, we tend to easily dismiss a lot of the carnage on our roads as "accidents." Too often, though, it is no accident that a person is driving recklessly, or impaired, or distracted by some other activity behind the wheel when he or she slams into another vehicle, or pedestrian, or bicyclist.
Where is the "accident" in those cases? Is it an "accident" that a person drives drunk? Is it an "accident" that a driver is more interested in a phone call or a text or the radio or a passenger than he or she is interested in the task of operating a speeding motor vehicle?
And is it an "accident" when a driver uses her vehicle to attempt to harm someone she knows, but winds up killing someone she doesn't?
That's the allegation against Howell.
"That's how the evidence is coming out," Deputy District Attorney Anne Masterson told staff writer Paul Payne on Tuesday after Howell was charged with second-degree murder and reckless driving. "The more we talk to witnesses it appears the crash involves implied malice."
As Payne reported, Sonoma County Sheriff's investigators said that prior to the crash, Howell and her 45-year-old ex-boyfriend got into an argument at Howell's Hartman Lane home. The boyfriend left on his Harley-Davidson and Howell pursued him in her car, Sgt. Carlos Basurto said.
"He wanted to get away from her and she followed," he said.
Witnesses in cars and on foot reported the pair was traveling at speeds between 50 and 80 miles per hour, Basurto said. At some point, Howell tried to run her car into the boyfriend's motorcycle.
"We believe she was trying to hit him," the detective said.
Instead, Howell's car ran into first a Lexus, and then a vintage Triumph Spitfire driven by Jesse Garcia. The small sports car flipped over and burned, killing Garcia, 56, of Santa Rosa.
Howell's attorney, Steve Spiegelman argued that the crash does not warrant a murder charge.
"I don't think there's any way this rises to that level," Payne quoted him as saying. "It's tragic, but accidents happen all the time."
Yes, accidents do happen. But if witnesses are to be believed, it was no accident that Howell was speeding on Hall Road last Saturday, and no accident that she caused harm with her vehicle.
Let's be clear here and call motor vehicles what they are – deadly weapons. Just like guns or knives, motor vehicles are useful tools. But put them in the wrong hands, use them carelessly or recklessly or operate them with bad intent, and the consequences can be grave.
When that happens, it's not an accident. It's a crime.
Chris Coursey's blog offers a community commentary and forum, from issues of the day to the ingredients of life in Sonoma County.
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