Santa Line Slaying - The Aftermath

The Aftermath

The incident made headlines in the local Cleveland newspapers who called the incident "The Santa Line Slaying". It was also widely reported in newspapers around the country. The local newspapers reported the altercation as racially-motivated due to Fitzpatrick being a White American and Howard being an African-American. Some witnesses claimed that racial slurs were used by Fitzpatrick. It was also reported that the weapon Howard used was a knife which he had in his jacket. Cleveland's then-Mayor Ralph Perk publicly denounced Howard as a murderer. The Episcopal bishop of Ohio called the slaying an "atrocity," and compared it to the Biblical story of Herod the Great's Massacre of the Innocents.

Howard was charged with second-degree murder and pled self-defense. Fitzpatrick's alleged use of racial epithets was denied by Howard's wife in the resulting trial. But she did testify that he said "Doing things like this has set your race back five years." Howard testified that he angrily cursed at Fitzpatrick and that led to the altercation. The widow Mary Fitzpatrick testified that a security guard separated the two men during the scuffle but Howard then pulled a knife from his jacket and lunged at Fitzpatrick with it. Howard and witnesses testified that while Howard was pinned against the wall, a woman handed him a nail file which he used to stab Fitzpatrick. But the nail file was never recovered and the unidentified woman never came forward. According to the jury foreman, Jack Petro, "the issue of race did not come up as a factor in the jury room." After a long deliberation, Howard was convicted of manslaughter and received a sentence of 1-to-25 years in prison. After 11 months, Howard was paroled for good behavior. Howard had no previous criminal record before the incident. He and his wife divorced shortly after his release from prison.