Howell Sentenced to Five Years for Assault in WS Restaurant

Mark Adam Howell, 40, of Willow Springs, has been sentenced to serve five years with the Missouri Department of Corrections after an Alford plea for the July 6 incident at Chapala Mexican Restaurant on West Main Street in Willow Springs. 

 

On July 6, Sergeant Michael Huffman responded to a 911 call after Howell pointed a loaded bow at the restaurant manager in a drunken rage. The manager, Alejandro Diaz, was able to disarm Howell and push him out the door. Howell turned around to charge back into the establishment, shattering the glass in the front door and injuring Diaz in the process. 

 

Willow Springs Police Department recovered the arrow from the scene, which was a broadhead arrow generally used for hunting. In Court documents, Sgt. Huffman describes the loaded bow as “a weapon readily capable of lethal use.”

 

Howell’s Alford plea is a special kind of guilty plea in which the defendant maintains their claim of innocence, but acknowledges the evidence against him is sufficient for a conviction. 

 

The Honorable Steven Privette sentenced Howell to a sentence of five years in prison, which began on January 26. The sentence will run concurrently with a four-year sentence for the December 2018 incident in which Howell shot a high-powered rifle in an interaction with police and had to be removed by SWAT personnel in downtown Willow Springs. The defendant was on probation for that incident when he was arrested for the July assault.