Manslaughter, reckless homicide charges against Kokomo man dropped

Jan. 25—Two out of the more serious charges — including voluntary manslaughter — levied against a Kokomo man in the October shooting death of Harvey Lenoir have been dropped.

Mycah Fowler, of Kokomo, now only faces one charge of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a level 6 felony, related to his role in the death of Lenoir after the Howard County Prosecutor's Office filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice on Jan. 12 that was later accepted by Howard County Superior Court 1 Judge William Menges.

As a result, the voluntary manslaughter charge, a level 2 felony, and reckless homicide charge, a level 5 felony, filed against Fowler were dropped.

The motion to dismiss cites "additional evidence obtained in the investigation after the initial filing of charges, including the autopsy report and evidence located at the crime scene," as the reason for the dismissal.

The filing does not go into detail into what the autopsy report showed and what new evidence exactly was collected that led prosecutors to file the motion to dismiss. Howard County Prosecutor Mark McCann declined to comment.

On Jan. 13, an agreement between both sides was filed stipulating the dismissal of the charges, that Fowler agree to withdraw his speedy trial request and that he be released from the Howard County Jail and report to probation upon his release.

Fowler was initially arrested and charged last October in connection to the shooting death of Lenoir.

A probable cause affidavit filed shortly after Fowler's arrest states that Fowler and Lenoir were in a physical altercation in front of a house in the 600 block of North Indiana Avenue before the shooting.

The police narratives filed for the case primarily include police interviews with 26-year-old Mycah Fowler and his girlfriend.

According to Fowler's girlfriend, she and a 15-year-old girl, who Lenoir was awarded legal guardianship over, went to Fowler's house to pick up her things as Fowler was moving to Indianapolis. After answering his door, Fowler, the girlfriend told police, began yelling and cussing at her; the two had been previously fighting, they both told police.

The teenager then, according to the girlfriend, began hitting Fowler. At that point, the girlfriend told police that Lenoir, who had been called earlier by the teenager and told that she and the girlfriend would soon be at Fowler's house, arrived.

Both Fowler and his girlfriend told police, according to court documents, that Lenoir began punching Fowler in the face repeatedly and eventually Fowler fell into the bushes located in front of the house. A KPD detective did observe that there was a laceration on Fowler's lip and blood could be seen around it, according to court documents.

Fowler told police, according to court documents, that he then pulled out a Springfield XD 9mm and fired one shot at Lenoir, believing that he struck him because he heard Lenoir scream. Lenoir, according to both Fowler and his girlfriend, then took off running. Fowler told police he continued to shoot at Lenoir while he was running away, shooting a total of five times.

Lenoir was found suffering from an apparent gunshot wound at around 1 a.m. Oct. 23 in the 900 block of West Monroe Street by officers with KPD after responding to a call for shots fired. Lenoir was taken to Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo, where he was pronounced dead at 1:26 a.m.

An autopsy completed by the Howard County Coroner's Office on Oct. 25 found that Lenoir died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Fowler and Lenoir knew each other but did not have a friendly relationship at the time of the shooting. Fowler, according to court documents, told police Lenoir had previously shot at an apartment he was living in at the time and that he blocked Lenoir from all social media. Fowler's girlfriend had previously dated Lenoir and had a child with him, but now there was a no-contact order between the two, according to court documents.

*This article has been updated to add that Howard County Prosecutor Mark McCann declined to comment.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.