COQUILLE - A Coos County Judge sentenced Christopher Howell to 23 years in state prison Wednesday for the role he played in a knife attack last October in Empire. One man died and two others were injured.

Howell, 27, pleaded guilty in April to first-degree manslaughter, attempted murder and second-degree assault charges in relation to the incident, while an accomplice, Christopher Poulain, 21, pleaded no contest in July to first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault and second-degree assault.

In Howell's sentencing proceeding, it became clear the Coos County District Attorney's Office believes Poulain, whose sentencing is set for Aug. 25, was the ringleader in the attack.

“It's clear from the facts that we see that this defendant is probably the least involved in this incident,” Chief Deputy District Attorney R. Paul Frasier told the court.

As a result, Howell's attorney, Gerald Petersen of Corvallis, tried to convince Judge Martin Stone to have Howell's sentences run concurrently, while Frasier asked for the maximum sentence, 23 years and four months, to run consecutively. Frasier told the court that is what Kenya Morris, the sister of Steven Morris, who was stabbed four times in the neck and face at his home on Schetter Avenue, wanted.

“Her and her family are very upset and they realize nothing that is done here today will bring him back - but they want the maximum,” Frasier said.

The bloody incident unfolded Oct. 9, when police were called to McKay's Market, 130 Cammann St., after a report of a man who came to the store's entrance with his “guts hanging out.”

Police arrived and spoke with the victim, Jack W. Robinson. He told them of a bloodbath at a nearby home. Police went to 764 Schetter Ave., where they found another blood-soaked man, later identified as Morris, and spoke with Mickey Stiltner, who had been stabbed in the back.

As police scoured the area, Poulain, covered in blood, returned to the scene seeking medical attention. He told police he had spent the day drinking and crabbing at the Empire docks with Howell, and on their way home argued with a man in front of the Schetter Avenue home.

Poulain was arrested for disorderly conduct, and later, along with Howell, brought up on murder charges. Once under arrest, Poulain lambasted police for not doing anything about the men who lived at the home. Poulain believed they molested children.

Petersen sought to distance Howell from Poulain, hoping the differences would lead to a lighter sentence.

“This was the coming together, to put it quite bluntly, of two drunks out there on the docks, both being extremely intoxicated and one of them, Mr. Poulain, had an issue to grind with the people in this house,” Petersen told the court.

It was Poulain's house, Petersen said, where a pair of gloves containing the victims' blood was found. It was Poulain who brought a pocketknife to the home that was later found to have blood from the victims on it. It was Poulain who had past problems with the men, Petersen said, noting Howell was merely a “passenger” who got caught up in the incident.

Based on reports from witnesses and the defendants, Petersen said Howell was in the kitchen roughing up Robinson with a butcher knife he found there, while Poulain knifed Stiltner and Morris - whom Frasier called a “cripple” - in the living room.

Petersen pressed to have the sentences run concurrently.

“When you pay for what you have done, you shouldn't pay the same price as the guy who, please pardon my English, has done a hell of a lot more,” Petersen said.

Howell's mother sat in the front row. She addressed the court, hoping to persuade Stone to be lenient on her son.

“First I would like to tell you and the family that we are sorry for their loss,” Redmond said, her voice wavering as she looked toward members of the Morris family seated in a corner of the courtroom. She said she believed her son never would have taken part in the tragedy had he not been drinking, and asked Stone to “show some mercy.”

“I want you to know how much we love him and want him home,” she said.

In an effort to bolster his drive for the maximum, Frasier said, no matter how little Howell's role may have been in the incident, his participation changed everything.

“If he would've simply said, ‘No,' would Mr. Poulain have gone through with this plan by himself?” Frasier asked. “His very presence and action helped Poulain do what he did.”

Kenya Morris also addressed the court, first seeking to clear her brother's name, saying he never was a child molester, and that he was a helpless victim.

“My brother couldn't even defend himself,” she said trying to hold back tears that eventually poured. “Nothing will ever bring him back. There is nothing anybody can do to take the pain away.”

Stone then asked Howell to address the court.

Howell, wearing a blue Coos County jail jumpsuit, leg irons and hand shackles, first apologized to the Morris family.

“I didn't know he was going to kill someone - I didn't know,” Howell said. “If I had, I would not have gone in that house. I would have had nothing to do with it. If I could take it all back, I would,” he said, crying. “I just wish that I would have never been on the docks that day.”

But Stone did not buy it.

“You entered that house. You knew something was going to happen. You were there. You are culpable.”

Stone acknowledged that Howell's degree of blame may be less, but in the eyes of the court, aiding and assisting in a crime is equal to carrying it out.

Howell received 10 years for the manslaughter charge in connection with the death of Morris; 71/2 years for the attempted murder of Robinson and nearly six years for the assault on Stiltner.

The sentences will run one after the other.