A Sapulpa man whose life sentence had been overturned by the McGirt Ruling has been sentenced again after he pled guilty to second-degree murder.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Oklahoma, U.S. District Judge John F. Heil, III, sentenced Arnold Dean Howell, Jr., 31, of Sapulpa, to 360 months imprisonment for Second Degree Murder in Indian Country. Howell is ordered to serve five years of supervised release following release from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
“Howell will serve 30 years in prison for the harm he has caused,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “My office remains steadfast in its commitment to seek justice for victims affected by criminal violence.”
According to court documents, in April 2015, Howell was at the home of Michael Mondier, Sr. In a fit of rage, Howell stabbed Michael more than 90 times using two separate knives. After brutally killing Michael, Howell took Michael’s vehicle and several valuable possessions.
According to previous reporting at Sapulpa Times, Arnold Dean Howell, Jr. was serving life without parole for the murder of a Sapulpa man that occurred during a robbery in 2015, when the McGirt ruling came down. Because Howell is an enrolled tribal member and the crime occurred within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, the state conviction was vacated and ordered dismissed.
When federal prosecutors got the case in 2021, they charged both Howell and his sister, Katherine Elaine Freeman, with first-degree murder in Indian Country, according to the Tulsa World. Freeman was later released from custody and her charges were dismissed after determining that she was incompetent to stand trial.
Howell is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He will remain in custody pending transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
