Man accused of shooting, killing woman in East Central sentenced to 10 years in prison
A 51-year-old man who was accused of shooting and killing a woman during a domestic dispute in 2018 was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison on manslaughter and weapons charges in December.
Howard Lackey was originally facing a second-degree murder charge in connection with the shooting death of 50-year-old Keli J. Jurdy, who had a sexual relationship with Lackey, in an East Central duplex, according to court documents.
Lackey’s roommate told police that Lackey and Jurdy were arguing in Lackey’s bedroom with the door closed before he heard the sound of a gunshot, court documents say.
Lackey almost immediately emerged from the bedroom with a gun in his hand, according to court documents.
The roommate told police that Lackey was “almost always” armed with a .40-caliber handgun with a skull and crossbones on the grip. Lackey told the roommate that Jurdy went for his gun and it went off, according to court documents.
After the roommate called 911, police found Jurdy’s body in the bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head, court records say. She had a criminal record that included domestic violence convictions in 2002 and 2010.
Paramedics told police a man who matched Lackey’s description contacted them down the street, said his friend had just committed suicide and pointed back toward Lackey’s residence, court records say.
After about an hour, police arrested Lackey while he was driving with another one of his girlfriends, according to court documents. When police searched this woman’s home, they found a load of wet clothes in the washing machine, including an outfit that appeared to belong to Lackey, and a pair of shoes with an “unknown red substance” on top of the machine.
Court documents detail how another of Lackey’s former girlfriends fled the state after ending a relationship with him.
The woman said Lackey pressed a gun to her head and told her to “shut the hell up” during an argument in 2013, court records say. And she said he lifted her off the ground by her neck during an argument in 2015, nearly causing her to lose consciousness.
The woman told police she filed protective orders against Lackey after she broke things off in 2015, according to court documents.
In November, a man who said Jurdy once stayed with him because she was afraid of Lackey spoke with police, according to court documents. She told the man that Lackey had assaulted her and placed a gun in her face during arguments several months before she was killed.
“You need to know that she was really afraid of that guy,” the man said, according to court documents. Lackey “had threatened to kill her with a gun before.”
Lackey’s criminal record dates back to 1996, when he was convicted of aggravated assault in New Mexico. He also was convicted of domestic violence assault in 2005 in Montana, in addition to DUI and drug charges.
Lackey’s attorneys indicated to prosecutors that they planned to argue the shooting was an accident, according to court documents. In recorded phone conversations from jail, Lackey alluded to arguing he fired in self-defense, which came after prior statements to first responders that Jurdy’s wound was self-inflicted.
Lackey pleaded guilty to a first-degree manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm in November, according to court records. He was sentenced on Dec. 19 to 122 months in prison and 36 months probation.