Trucker Pleads Guilty to Shooting Another Trucker
at Jessup Convenience Store

June 30, 2009

At a hearing held before Howard County Circuit Court Judge Richard S. Bernhardt this morning, a 24-year-old Forestville trucker pleaded guilty to shooting another trucker. Douglas Marion Howard pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault and one count of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence for the attack that occurred on November 17, 2008 at a Royal Farms convenience store located in the 8600 block of Washington Boulevard in Jessup.

Senior Howard County State’s Attorney Susan A Weinstein told the court that had the case gone to trial, surveillance video from the convenience store and an adjacent car wash would have placed Douglas Howard at the scene. The victim, who suffered .40-caliber gunshot wounds to the left hand and right leg, identified his assailant to a police detective during the course of his treatment at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Weinstein stated that the victim has not regained full use of his hand.

The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation with a disposition hearing set for October 9. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Howard faces a sentence of eight years prison, five of those years without parole for the handgun conviction.