Prosecutors announced the terrorism indictment of a defendant arrested with a stockpile of weapons at a Henderson casino, just a day after the district attorney said there was insufficient evidence to support a terroristic threat charge.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Eckley Keach said at a Thursday hearing that grand jurors had met Wednesday and returned an indictment against Allison Howlett of Henderson on a count of making threats or conveying false information concerning an act of terrorism.
“The evidence absolutely shows that this defendant made a threat concerning an act of terrorism,” Keach told Chief District Judge Tierra Jones.
In a statement Wednesday, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said, “In the case in question, a determination was made that there was insufficient evidence to support a charge involving a terroristic threat.”
Wolfson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. It is unclear which attorney currently represents Howlett, but a public defender who previously appeared in court declined to comment.
Howlett, 36, was arrested late last month in the garage of Sunset Station. Police said the defendant, who was born male and was living as a female, had planned a mass shooting.
“Cases are not static,” Keach said after court. “Evidence is constantly being reviewed, new evidence comes in. It’s not uncommon for charges to be added after the initial submission.”
He said prosecutors’ evaluation of the charges changed and it became clear there was evidence to support additional charges. Grand jury proceedings are supposed to be secretive, and evidence presented to the grand jury had to remain confidential until the announcement of the indictment, he added.
“Without compromising the integrity of the grand jury, I think our office commented on the case as it stood based on the original charges,” he said.
Keach declined to comment on whether Wolfson informed him he was making the Wednesday statement.
Howlett was also indicted on a count of assault with a weapon constituting domestic violence, 20 counts of grand larceny of a firearm, one count of grand larceny of a car, eight counts of possession of machine gun or silencer and three counts of possession of short-barreled rifle or shotgun, according to Keach.
“Judge, this case arises from the shadow of 1 October,” he told Jones. “In this case, the defendant told her wife that she was going to hurt a lot of people and she was going to (commit) suicide by cop.”
He requested a warrant with $500,000 bail, high-level electronic monitoring and no access to weapons if Howlett is released. Jones granted the request.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
