Former Fairfax man sentenced to life in prison for Arkansas murder

CEDAR RAPIDS — A former Fairfax man convicted in the 2008 fatal shooting of a teen in Cedar Rapids has now been convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing an Arkansas man in 2018.

A Pulaski County, Arkansas, jury found Jacovan D. Bush, now 34, guilty of capital murder, aggravated residential burglary, aggravated robbery and felony theft in less than 90 minutes of deliberations March 29. Bush fatally shot Devon Howard, 23, of Little Rock, during a home invasion, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Bush was immediately sentenced to life without parole for capital murder, and a judge ran the other convictions consecutively for an additional 40 years, according court documents.

Bush was linked to the murder of Howard “by only a few drops of blood,” according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Evidence showed Bush’s blood was found on Howard’s front door and three spots inside the residence at Eagle Nest apartments in Little Rock.

He became a suspect when the FBI’s national database matched Bush’s DNA to the blood found in Howard’s apartment. Bush was arrested on the Arkansas warrant in January 2020 in Cedar Rapids.

According to testimony, two men attacked Howard but prosecutors didn’t know the identity of the other man or if Bush was the actual shooter. But it doesn’t matter because of his participation in the fatal robbery, the news report stated.

It wasn’t clear whether Bush and the other man found any money or why Howard was targeted. They didn’t take jars of marijuana found in the kitchen, but investigators did hear rumors that Howard may have won a $2,000 bet over a basketball game.

Officer Eric Barnes, a spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Bush had moved back to Iowa shortly after the shooting. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Bush in January 2020 in the 1800 block of B Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids on the Arkansas warrant.

Bush was convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Thomas Horvath, 19, on April 15, 2008. His conviction was overturned on appeal and he was granted a new trial. But a prosecutor offered him a plea deal on lesser charges, and he was sentenced in 2010 for voluntary manslaughter, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and going armed with intent.

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During the plea hearing in 2013, Bush admitted to shooting Horvath during a fist fight between his friends and Horvath's friends in the Raintree Apartments' parking lot. The fight started over a broken car light. Bush also admitted to bringing a gun and firing into the crowd. He threatened Horvath and said he intended for one of the shots to hit him.

He was sentenced to 25 years but became eligible for parole after serving four and was released on parole in February 2017. He then moved to Arkansas.

Bush won his appeal because the prosecution used inadmissible statements from three witnesses who recanted before trial that Bush was the shooter.

An Iowa Court of Appeals ruling found then-First Assistant Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden “orchestrated this series of events” to get evidence into testimony that otherwise wouldn’t have been allowed.

The plea to lesser charges was offered by Vander Sanden because he couldn’t have those three witnesses testify in a retrial.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com