Notorious double child killer Howard Steven Ault will be executed over infamous 1996 sex killings of two young sisters aged 7 and 11, which saw him rape oldest victim in front of her younger sibling then strangle both

A notorious double child murderer is set to be executed for the infamous 1996 murder of two young sisters after a jury sentenced him to death row for a third time.

Howard Steven Ault, 57, was initially sentenced to death in 2000, but several legal challenges and changes to Florida’s death row process have led to two more juries weighing in, culminating in a 9-3 vote this week to execute him.

He shocked the nation nearly three decades ago when he lured DeAnn Emerald Mu’min, 11, and her younger sister, Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, to his home with the promise of Halloween candy.

After kidnapping the girls, he raped Mu’min in front of her younger sister, before strangling them both and hiding them in his attic.

Ault shocked the nation in 1996 when he lured sisters DeAnn Emerald Mu’min, 11, (left) and her younger sister Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, (right) to his home before raping DeAnn and killing them both.

Jurors deliberated for two days before voting 9-3 to sentence Ault to death again, with his fate decided by the non-unanimous verdict thanks to a new law introduced by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The governor signed a bill in April that allowed the death penalty to be approved in his state with a jury vote of just 8-4.

Ault has been in prison since his arrest shortly after the murders, but has spent several times on death row despite his heinous crime.

Three years after his first conviction in 2000, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Ault to face a new trial over concerns about jury selection in his trial.

He was then convicted again in 2007 of the murders of the young girls by a 9-3 vote, and served more than a decade on death row until another Florida Supreme Court ruling in 2017.

The court ruled that Florida’s death penalty trial was unconstitutional because jurors were not required to reach a unanimous decision.

As Ault waited for yet another sentencing hearing, the case was complicated by the 2018 Parkland school shooting, as the gunman who killed seventeen people was spared the death penalty as the jury voted only 12 to 9 for death.

Amid outrage over the jury’s vote, DeSantis pushed to lower the threshold, ultimately leading to Ault’s third death sentence this week.

According to a New York Times In an article after his 1996 arrest, Ault was known as a long-term sex offender in the state of Florida who was under house arrest for an unrelated sex crime involving another child at the time of the sisters’ murder.

He quickly confessed to the murders and led investigators to their bodies in the attic of his building.

Ault had befriended the sisters’ mother shortly before their murders and lured them to his house with Halloween candy

The killer was a known sex offender in the area. After his confession, he led investigators to the sisters’ bodies in the attic of his South Florida home (photo)

Ault (pictured at his first trial) had a shocking criminal past dating back to 1986, including previous attacks on children

Following his arrest, the crime sparked outrage as it became clear that Ault (seen in previous mugshots) had an extensive criminal history against children but was still able to come into contact with the young sisters.

Police discovered that he had befriended the sisters and their mother shortly before the murders, and although he was under house arrest, Ault was not electronically monitored and was only visited by his probation officer.

His arrest sparked outrage as many wondered why a convicted child predator could have contact with the young girls when Ault had a ten-year criminal record at the time.

In 1986, he was charged in connection with a violent attack on a couple on a beach, for which he was placed on probation for three years.

Within two years, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and the attempted sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl, earning him a seven-year prison sentence.

However, Ault was released after only three years and nine months due to prison overcrowding.

He then pleaded guilty in 1994 to false imprisonment and sexual activity with a six-year-old child who lived in his neighborhood, for which he was sentenced to house arrest.

He was also accused of attempting to rape an 11-year-old neighbor on New Year’s Eve in 1995, but was never arrested for the alleged crime.

After the murders of DeAnn (pictured) and Alicia, outraged mourners at their funeral called on Ault to ‘never see the light of day again’

At the funeral of the sisters he murdered, anger was palpable at the system that allowed him to reoffend.

One participant, Laura Mucilli, 60, who did not know the girls but wanted to support their funeral, said at the time: ‘We need to start something where once they hurt a baby they never see the light of day.

‘We are the people. We make the laws. Once, and never see the light of day again. That’s all that needs to be done.’

Tederin Lane, 41, a cousin of the sisters’ mother, added: “They should put a tattoo on these killers so the kids know what they’re up against.”

Although a jury voted to sentence him to death for a third time, he will still be subject to formal sentencing by a judge.

He will have a status hearing on April 11.