Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Damion Howell was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the August 2022 murder of Julian Askew in Jamaica. Howell was convicted by a jury of fatally shooting the 29-year-old after the men got into an argument in a bodega over crude remarks the defendant made to Askew’s girlfriend.

District Attorney Katz said: “Damion Howell brazenly shot a young man after propositioning the victim’s girlfriend for sex. When Julian Askew died three months later from his injuries, the defendant fled the country in a futile effort to evade justice. Howell was apprehended, tried and convicted for this senseless murder. I hope today’s sentence helps Askew’s family and friends as they continue to mourn his loss.”

Howell, 42, of Flushing, was convicted by a jury in August of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant sentenced him today to 25 years to life in prison.

According to the charges and trial testimony, on August 5, 2022, at approximately 1:11 a.m., Howell was inside a bodega at 106-32 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica, approached Julian Askew’s girlfriend and propositioned her for sex. The woman told Askew about Howell’s remarks and the two men got into an argument before the defendant left the store.

About a half hour later, Howell returned to the bodega wearing different clothing and approached Askew. The two men walked to the end of the block. When they arrived at the corner of Waltham Street, Howell produced a gun and shot Askew in the torso. He then fled the scene. The victim’s girlfriend observed the shooting and called 911.

Askew was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was paralyzed from the waist down and died three months later, on November 14, 2022, from gunshot injuries.

Eleven days after Askew died, Howell fled the country to the United Kingdom. He was apprehended at Kennedy Airport in May 2023 when he returned to the United States on his own.

Assistant District Attorneys Nicole Rella and Antonio Vittiglio, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Clark.