Corrected time element in story at 12:38 p.m. June 2.

BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

CANTON – While no sentence will fill the void left by the killing of SUNY Potsdam student Elizabeth “Beth” Howell, her murderer will face a sentence of 22 years to life imprisonment, following a June 1 plea deal.

Under the agreement, Michael J. Snow, 32, of Massena, pled guilty to murder in the second degree. The maximum sentence he could have received was 25 years to life.

District Attorney Gary Pasqua, who said his office was fully prepared to go to trial, did not offer the plea deal.

“We never offered Mr. Snow a plea. This did not come from my office. We were ready to go to trial. We did not offer him anything,” he said. “This is an agreement that was made to the defendant and the court.”

County Court Judge Craig P. Carriero oversaw the case.

Pasqua said his office did agree to drop the other charges because they would have run concurrently with the sentence he is already facing, meaning there would have been no additional prison time served by Snow.

Pasqua said he was able to speak with Howell’s family about the plea arrangement and while there is nothing that can make up for their loss, they did understand the situation and knew that the deal was only slightly less than the maximum sentence.

Pasqua said that while he doesn’t believe any sentence could have “satisfied” the Howell family, or any family in a situation like this, he offered them appreciation for their understanding of what justice could be offered though the legal system.

“First and foremost I want to thank the Howell family for their patience and their understanding during this difficult time,” he said at a press conference Thursday. “Thankfully we’ve come to a point where we think that justice has finally been accomplished.”

Pasqua credited multiple law enforcement agencies including Potsdam Police officers who attempted life-saving efforts on Howell at the scene of the murder as well state police investigators who were able to gather a substantial amount of evidence that Snow was guilty of the crime.

He also acknowledged the efforts of Homeland Security, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and SUNY Potsdam Police for their collaboration on the case.

“I think this plea is the result of the work of all of those law enforcement agencies and my office – putting together a case that I think was quite frankly insurmountable for the defendant to overcome,” he said.

Although he did not elaborate on all of the details, Pasqua said that while they never recovered the weapon used in Howell’s killing, they did obtain video evidence of the scene at the time of the crime.

“I do believe the evidence we have of Snow is damning,” he said.

Snow murdered Howell in February of 2022. It is believed to have been a random act of violence.

She was a SUNY Potsdam student at the time and performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra and the Crane Chamber Orchestra.

She was a cellist and regarded as a “star” student who was working toward her goal of being a music educator.

In the wake of her death, SUNY Potsdam released a video of performance of Peace Like a River, which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Xn14gN2RQZg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title