Grand jury vindicates shooter in killing
Grand jury vindicates shooter in killing
Address:http://www.news-press.com/news/today/010607grandjury.html
Grand jury vindicates shooter in killing Antiques dealer will not face
charges
By PETER FRANCESCHINA, [email protected]
A grand jury determined Wednesday that a Fort Myers antiques dealer was
justified in gunning down a drunken, menacing neighbor wielding an ice
pick in February.
The jurors found that Fredricka “Ricki” Howie, 53, of North Fort Myers
was justified in using deadly force, said Assistant State Attorney Dean
Plattner, one of two prosecutors who presented the case to the panel of
18 people.
Gregory Schreffler, 34, died from a single shotgun wound after a
long-running dispute with Howie over the barking of her dogs at
Honeysuckle Cottage Antiques on Fowler Street, near downtown Fort Myers.
“There was evidence that shows that the deceased, Mr. Schreffler, was
armed with an ice pick or a leather punch,” Plattner said.
Police found the ice pick lying in the grass near where Schreffler was
shot.
Howie, who was interviewed extensively after the shooting, told police
that Schreffler threatened her, Plattner said.
Schreffler’s blood-alcohol content, measured from blood diluted from
intravenous fluids, was .18 percent, Plattner said. Blood-alcohol
measurements on eye fluids revealed a much higher figure of .27 percent,
he said, more than three times Florida’s legal limit of .08 percent for
drivers.
Plattner declined to comment on other evidence presented. Grand jury
proceedings are secret by law. At least 12 of the jurors had to agree
Howie was justified in using deadly force, Plattner said.
A man who answered the phone at Howie’s residence said, “We don’t talk
to reporters.”
The antiques shop is now up for sale.
Mack Littleton, who let Schreffler live with him and his mother,
testified before the grand jury but didn’t witness the shooting. He said
he was disappointed jurors didn’t charge Howie with a crime.
“Unreal. I preached and I told everything I knew and I can’t believe
they came up with that decision. Unreal, unreal. I’m sorry to hear that
because I don’t think it was justifiable homicide. I don’t see how the
grand jury could come up with that,” said Littleton, who has maintained
from the beginning that he didn’t see Schreffler carrying an ice pick
when he went to confront Howie.
“Out of the 18 jurors, probably 12 or 13 of them questioned me for about
an hour, and they got into detail, too,” he said.
Fair use
