Prosecutors expect to extend another plea offer to Masiyah Howard next month which would package charges of robbery and murder if he accepts it.
Howard is charged with numerous crimes in Chambersburg, including the slaying of 25-year-old
Louis Bryan Alvarez
, who was gunned down at his city home on Feb. 26, 2013.
Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said at a status hearing Monday he plans to send a written offer to Howard’s attorney about two weeks before his next court appearance, on March 21.
Howard, who is jailed on a combined bail of $800,000, was previously offered a plea deal that called for him to serve 30 years in state prison if he admitted to robbery, aggravated manslaughter and weapons offenses.
Howard attorney, Steven Lember, told the court he plans to file a Miranda motion to get the statement his client gave to authorities thrown out.
Even if the statement is quashed, Judge Darlene Pereksta said that would not resolve Howard’s case.
Howard will have two weeks to consider prosecutors’ forthcoming plea offer, which Scott did not disclose at the hearing.
The judge told Howard to “think long and hard” about whether he wants to accept the offer as prosecutors said they will yank the offer off the table if Howard does not accept it by the time his next appearance rolls around.
Prosecutors have said Howard confronted and shot Alvarez, a Guatemalan native who worked in Trenton, on the 200 block of Fulton Street. They exchanged words prior to Howard allegedly pulling out a handgun and shooting through a glass door, prosecutors have said.
Howard is also charged in separate robberies that occurred weeks before Alvarez was killed, at a city deli on Feb. 11, and of another Latino man about a week prior.
Prosecutors wanted to try the robbery and murder cases together because they contend Howard used the same 9 mm handgun to commit crimes blocks apart within weeks of each other. Howard targeted Latino victims each time, prosecutors said. A judge previously said he was not “inclined” to let prosecutors try the cases together.