Homicide victim Howard Lewis (center) with family in early July 2020.
A 26-year-old New Havener was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the 2020 killing of Howard Lewis, an innocent bystander caught in the middle of a Munson Street shooting.
The state’s attorney’s office sent out a press release on May 14 about that sentencing of Jaison Flowers.
State Superior Court Judge Maureen Keegan sentenced Flowers to 45 years in prison on May 13 after he was found guilty by a jury in March of one count of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.
According to the press release, Flowers fired two shots at a vehicle on Munson Street on July 14, 2020. “The gunfire missed the intended target and struck Lewis, an innocent bystander picking up his child from a hair appointment,” the press release states. “One of the bullets struck Lewis in the chest and he later died from his wounds at Yale New Haven Hospital.” Lewis was 40 at the time of his death.
Flowers reportedly told the jury he had fired in “self-defense after another driver pulled a firearm on him.” However, per the May 14 press release, the jury rejected that self-defense claim. “At the time of the shooting, Flowers was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a previous felony conviction.” Flowers was also sentenced by Keegan on a charge of criminal possession of a firearm and on being in violation of his probation stemming from a 2016 shooting.
Lewis’s children, brother, and wife spoke up at Flowers’ May 13 sentencing hearing.
“Howard was a loving husband, father, and pillar of support to our family. His death came just one day before our son’s 10th birthday and only seven days after Howard’s 40th birthday,” Lewis’s wife, Nicole Lewis, is quoted as saying in the press release. “It is hard to describe the weight of this loss and the void it has left in our lives. His absence has left us struggling to navigate life without his wisdom, encouragement, jokes and love.”
New Haven State’s Attorney John Doyle is quoted in that same press release as stating, “The New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office is grateful to all of the members of the Lewis family and residents of Munson Street who spoke out against this senseless act of violence that is becoming all too common here in New Haven. Judge Keegan’s sentence sends a strong message that, if you take an innocent life with a firearm you were prohibited from possessing in the first place, there will be significant consequences. As the state argued at sentencing, one should not lose their life after working a shift and picking up a child from a hair appointment merely because of where they decided to park their car.”
July 14, 2020, was an exceptionally violent night in New Haven. Lewis was shot and killed on Munson Street at around 6:05 p.m., and 33-year-old New Havener Ibrahim Valentino Shareef, Jr. was shot and killed near a liquor store on Whalley Avenue near Hobart Street just after 10 p.m. There were two other nonfatal shootings that night, as well.