Howard Ault

1996 murders of DeAnn Mu'min and Alicia Jones On November 4, 1996, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Howard Ault committed the kidnappings and murders of two young girls, who were both sisters.

An autopsy revealed that both girls died from manual strangulation, and that there was also bruising and hemorrhaging of Mu'min's vaginal tissue, proving that she was raped by Ault before her death. It was certified that Mu'min died approximately two days before the body was discovered, while the estimated time of death in Jones's case occurred about 12 to 18 hours after Mu'min was murdered.

Murder trial On November 6, 1996, Howard Ault was charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of DeAnn Mu'min and Alicia Jones.

On November 20, 1996, a Broward County grand jury formally indicted Ault on a total of eight criminal charges, which consisted of two counts each of first-degree murder, sexual battery, aggravated child abuse and kidnapping a child under 13.

On August 3, 1999, the trial of Howard Ault began before a Broward County jury.

On August 11, 1999, the jury found Ault guilty of both counts of first-degree murder for the killings of both Jones and Mu'min.

On September 22, 1999, the prosecution sought the death penalty on the basis that Ault had committed the murders of both the girls in callous and inhumane fashion, and his motive was to eliminate witnesses to his crimes, and he also had previous convictions for violent offences like assaulting a police officer and sexual assault of a child in 1986 and 1994 respectively. On the other hand, the defence argued that Ault should not be sentenced to death, on account of his dysfunctional childhood, mainly centering around his past as a victim of sexual abuse by his older brother, the abusive nature of his father and the alcoholism of his mother; at one instance, Ault and his siblings were beaten and locked in their rooms. However, while Ault and his mother testified about his childhood, Ault's two sisters denied that their childhood were unhappy and stated that it was happy despite the harsh disciplinary methods of Ault's father.

On September 30, 1999, by a majority vote of 9–3, the jury recommended the death penalty for Ault on both murders.

On March 14, 2000, Ault was formally sentenced to death via the electric chair by Circuit Judge Marc Gold.

First re-sentencing trial and appeals On November 7, 2003, Ault's death sentences were overturned by the Florida Supreme Court, after they found that a potential juror who opposed capital punishment was wrongly dismissed by the judge during jury selection.

In August 2007, the re-sentencing trial of Ault began before a Broward County jury, who were presented with the details of the murders. The prosecution argued for the death penalty to be re-imposed, given that Ault had an egregious criminal history and also ruthlessly murdered the two young girls in a heinous fashion, while the defence argued that Ault should be spared the death sentence on humanitarian grounds due to his traumatic experience as a victim of child abuse.

On August 22, 2007, the jury recommended the death penalty for Ault on both counts of murdering the two girls. In the case of Mu'min, the vote was 9–3, while for the killing of Jones, the vote was 10–2.

On October 24, 2007, Circuit Judge Marc Gold formally sentenced Ault to death for the sisters' murders.

On September 30, 2010, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed Ault's appeal against his death sentence.

In 2011, Ault expressed his intention to waive his remaining appeals and be executed as soon as possible. However, on January 22, 2012, Ault's motion was denied after the judge found that he refused to take medications for his psychiatric condition and out of concern that he was potentially not mentally competent to decide on forgoing his appeals and be executed.

Second re-sentencing trial On March 9, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court upheld Howard Ault's convictions for the murders of DeAnn Mu'min and Alicia Jones, but the death sentences were overturned after the court found Ault was entitled to a new sentencing hearing, given that the sentences were imposed by non-unanimous decisions. A year prior, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in the Hurst v. Florida case, ruling that the death penalty in Florida was partially unconstitutional due to the judges having too much power compared to juries in sentencing people to death, and the law was amended to allow only unanimous verdicts of death.

In April 2023, while Ault's re-sentencing application was still pending, the state of Florida officially abolished the death penalty laws that required a unanimous vote to impose capital punishment, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law to allow the death penalty be imposed based on a majority vote from a minimum of eight jurors out of the 12-member jury. The law was changed partially due to the fact that Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people and wounded another 17 in a school shooting, evading the death penalty after the jury failed to reach a unanimous vote for capital punishment.

The second re-sentencing trial took place in February 2024. The prosecution once again seek the death penalty for Ault, citing the aggravating circumstances behind the murders and Ault's conduct as their reasons in favour of capital punishment. The confession tapes that recorded Ault's confession were also played in court for the jury.

On February 24, 2024, by a majority vote of 9–3, the jury agreed to sentence Ault to death for both murders.

On June 11, 2024, Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein formally sentenced 57-year-old Howard Ault to death for the murders of Jones and Mu'min.

As of 2026, Ault remains incarcerated at the Union Correctional Institution.