John E. Howard Dies; Part of Team That Prosecuted Sirhan

John E. Howard of Irvine, one of three prosecutors who won conviction of Sirhan Sirhan in Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, died at age 70, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Howard died Monday at his home, where he had retired several years ago. He had been suffering from cancer for some time.

Howard, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lynn (Buck) Compton and Deputy Dist. Atty. David Fitts were chosen to prosecute the case when Sirhan was arrested for the June, 1968, assassination of Kennedy.

Sirhan was convicted of Kennedy’s murder and sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned several years later. Sirhan remains in prison.

Howard later became chief deputy district attorney, and briefly took over leadership of the office in the mid-1970s when his boss, Dist. Atty. Joseph Busch, died of a heart attack. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors later appointed John Van de Kamp to fill the unexpired term.

Howard joined the district attorney’s office in 1952 and retired in 1976. He was in private practice for a time before moving to Orange County with his wife, Janet.

Besides his widow, Howard is survived by two daughters.