French’s taped interview with police were played during the trial, but the penalty phase may be the first time the jury will actually hear from him. He did not testify during trial, but he will be permitted to give an unsworn statement during the mitigation hearing.
The jury will consider four sentences for French, death, life without the possibility of parole, 30 years to life and 25 years to life. He also pleaded guilty on Oct. 14 to lesser charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence the carry a prison sentence of up to 27 years.
Friends and family are being called to the stand by the defense as well as a psychologist who interviewed French at the Butler County Jail, where he has been housed since his arrest in December 2014, about 2½ years after Howe was killed in her cottage at Mount Pleasant Retirement Community.
Last month’s nine-day trial, which included French’s full confession, also revealed some aspects about his life that may have shaped his mind set.
French grew up in Middletown and is one of nine children. After their father’s death about three years ago, some of the siblings didn’t get along and stopped talking with each other, according to an interview French had with police.
Kenneth French, Daniel’s brother, called police after he saw him around the time of Howe’s slaying on Oct. 28, 2012.
During his testimony on day four of the trial, Kenneth French said he struggled for weeks about calling the police, but ultimately did make that call. He told police his brother was wearing a Mount Pleasant shirt even though he no longer worked at the retirement community.
Kenneth French said he had a bad feeling when he met his brother, who he referred to as “Danny,” in the parking lot of a Kroger in Walton, Ky. on Nov. 1, 2012.
“When I get out of the truck, he gives me a big hug and tells me he loves me,” Kenneth French told prosecutors during direct examination. He said that was odd behavior for his brother, who had called him the day before to ask if they could meet on his way from Monroe back to their sister’s house in Berea.
“I felt like he was telling me goodbye for the last time,” Kenneth French said, sobbing at times during his testimony.
Daniel French told police several times he was depressed and even suicidal. Kenneth French said he too felt like “Danny” was going to take his own life.
“But everybody has been in a depression since my father died,” Kenneth French said to defense attorney Melynda Cook during cross examination.
Two other siblings, Wanda Allen, the sister French was living with when arrested in Berea, Ky. and LeeAnn Ifcic, the sister he was staying with in Monroe when Howe was killed, may also be called to the stand by defense attorneys. Ifcic sat outside the courtroom during the entire trial because she was listed as a prosecution witness and could not hear testimony due to separation of witnesses.
Ultimately the prosecution did not call Ifcic to testify and she was permitted in the courtroom during closing arguments. When the jury returned guilty verdicts after just two hours of deliberation, Ifcic sobbed as the verdict was read.
“I love my brother and I always will,” she said.
The penalty phase is expected to go into Thursday because a psychologist who evaluated French is not available to testify until Thursday morning.
The prosecution will make arguments about the crimes French has been convicted of to support the death penalty, but it is limited in this phase to calling witnesses in rebuttal to issues raised by the defense.
“I am not permitted to put family members on to talk about how they have been affected by this crime,” said Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser.
Gmoser said they will likely not call any witnesses.
French, a former maintenance man at Mount Pleasant Retirement Community, hatched a plan to rob Howe using the ruse of repairing her medical alarm system. Once he gained entry to her home, French shocked her with a stun gun, but when she didn’t go down, he choked her, then slit her throat with a double-edged knife. He then put Howe’s body in the trunk of her red Cadillac and drove it to a Middletown apartment complex. The cover up DNA and the crime, French poured cleaning supplies and vacuum clean debris on Howe’s body before walking to Walmart and calling a cab.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater will officially sentence French on Nov. 16.
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