Howard Arthur Allen (February 10, 1949 – June 5, 2020) was an American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

from

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He murdered three elderly people and also committed

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

, and

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

Early life

Allen was one of eight children who were raised by an impoverished single mother. He sometimes stole food for the family. Allen was enrolled in special education classes for mentally disabled children, and was still reading at a second grade level when he left elementary school. A special education director said Allen "had difficulty processing language" as a child, that his "thinking and decision-making would be very concrete," and that he "could have difficulty understanding the consequences of his conduct and could be easily led." There were disputes over whether Allen was mentally disabled, since he scored 104 on an IQ test and his mother called him an "average" student. None of Allen's family members described him as anything other than of normal intelligence, nor did any of eighteen people who submitted letters on his behalf before sentencing.

Crimes

In August 1974, Allen beat 85-year-old Opal Cooper during a burglary. He was sentenced to 2-21 years in prison for

voluntary manslaughter Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender acted during ''the heat of passion'', under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point that they cannot ...

, winning parole in 1985. On June 11, 1988, Allen was sentenced to death for the murder of Ernestine Griffin. He received a concurrent 50-year sentence for robbery with serious bodily injury, and a consecutive 38-year sentence for theft. On August 30, 1988, he was placed on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

where he spent the next 25 years awaiting a ruling by a

U.S. district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

on a petition for a writ of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

. After years of unsuccessful attempts to prove that he was mentally disabled and thus ineligible for execution, one of Allen's appeals was successful. He was resentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder. The

Indiana Department of Correction The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) operates state prisons in Indiana. It has its headquarters in Indianapolis. As of 2019, the Indiana Department of Correction housed 27,140 adult Inmates, 388 juvenile Inmates, employed 5,937 State Empl ...

had listed his release date as April 23, 2035. Allen was imprisoned at the

Wabash Valley Correctional Facility Wabash Valley Correctional Facility is a prison situated south of Terre Haute, located in Haddon Township, Sullivan County, just north of Carlisle, Indiana. The Wabash Valley Correctional Facility received American Correctional Association (ACA) ...

. Allen died on June 5, 2020, at the age of 71. His death was confirmed by the Indiana Department of Correction.

References

External links

Indiana Department of Corrections Website / Offender Search
DOC Number: 881978 {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Howard Arthur 1949 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American people convicted of murder American people convicted of manslaughter American people convicted of robbery American people convicted of theft American prisoners sentenced to death American serial killers Male serial killers People convicted of murder by Indiana People from Indianapolis Prisoners sentenced to death by Indiana Prisoners who died in Indiana detention Serial killers who died in prison custody

Early life

Crimes

See also

References

External links