SPOKANE — There is no reason for the former Spokane Medical Examiner to believe Athol resident Kendy Howard died from anything but a gunshot wound to her mouth, he testified Thursday. But he admitted he didn’t see the follow-up reports, the conflicting conclusions made by other medical experts or the two-year investigation into her death conducted by Kootenai County.
Dr. John Howard, no relation, took the stand Thursday to testify on behalf of the defense in the murder trial of former Idaho State Police trooper Daniel Howard.
Daniel Howard, 58, is standing trial in Coeur d’Alene for the alleged murder of Kendy Howard, his wife. He faces charges of first-degree murder and battery. Prosecutors allege he asphyxiated her, then placed her body in the bathtub where he shot her in her mouth to stage it like a suicide. The motive to kill, Kootenai County Prosecutor Stan Mortensen said, was an affair and an impending divorce.
Dr. John Howard performed his autopsy on Feb. 3, 2021, one day after Kendy Howard was discovered in her master bathroom. He decided her cause of death was a gunshot wound and her manner of death was “undetermined.”
Multiple medical professionals have disputed this ruling throughout the trial. Forensic pathologist Jennifer Nara, who used to work with the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office, did her own examination of the evidence, photos and tongue of Kendy Howard. Nara previously told the jury there was a lack of blood at the scene, and the trajectory of the bullet pointed downward, which is not consistent with suicides. Dr. Bill Smock, who is a strangulation expert in Kentucky, testified there was an obvious struggle before Kendy Howard’s death due to the abrasions on her body. And Ryan Rambaran, a trauma surgeon in Pennsylvania, conducted an in-depth review of the blood loss of Kendy Howard’s tongue and concluded she was not alive when she was shot.
When a medical examiner makes a conclusion about a person’s death, they typically consult with law enforcement about the events leading up to the death to gain guidance on what to look for. In this case, John Howard testified, he didn’t remember speaking with police and never viewed photos of the scene. He never spoke to Kootenai County Chief Deputy Coroner Lynn Acebedo, who visited the scene that night and noted that Kendy Howard’s body “didn’t look right.”
When he was asked to be a witness for the defense, he also was never given any portion of the case file to review. He never reviewed Nara’s report, nor did he review Smock’s, he said. And when it was found that Kendy Howard received more than 30 bruises on her body before she died, John Howard never took photos of the bruises at the time of autopsy. The only reason the prosecution has photos of the bruises is because Acebedo took them herself when she noticed Kendy Howard lying on a table in the funeral home being prepped for burial.
He looked for other possibilities of death, Dr. John Howard told prosecutors, but there “wasn’t evidence” of another explanation.
“This has the same appearance of other gunshots wounds that proved fatal in other cases,” Dr. John Howard said when asked why he ruled in the manner he did. “There is no reason for me to believe there is any other cause of death.”
Others don’t believe Kendy Howard had the intent to kill herself. Clinical psychologist Philip Hanger, who took the stand Wednesday, previously did evaluations for patients committed to involuntary holds in Idaho. He conducted an investigation into Kendy Howard’s life, which included reviewing Facebook posts, text messages and statements from family members. Hanger concluded that Kendy Howard was at no or minimal risk of suicide. She had no signs of substance abuse, was not speaking about suicide, was excited about buying a home in Kamiah and was “looking forward to the future.”
Divorce was a significant stressor in her life, he said, but Kendy Howard was adapting to it positively.
“Future focus is a coping indicator… Not seeing it as (you’re) trapped, but seeing it as a goal,” Hanger said. “She had hope and a plan… She was continuing to go to work and go shopping and kept her appointments. She’s not disconnecting. She’s not secluding. She’s engaging.”
Among the defense’s witnesses was Daniel Howard’s father, also named John Howard, who currently resides in Lucille, Idaho. He was also called to testify on Wednesday.
John Howard told the jury his son is a “family man.” He “started a project and always followed through.” He never witnessed him quick to anger, and his son was “always responsible with money.”
Daniel Howard called his father that night to tell him what happened. He described his demeanor as “quite upset,” because he could barely understand Daniel Howard over the phone since he was “screaming and crying.” John Howard drove the four hours to Athol, where the rest of his family was hugging each other and crying.
When a memorial for Kendy Howard was held in her hometown, Daniel Howard did not attend. His father said on the stand that there were “rumors” flying surrounding her death.
“I told Dan, ‘Don’t go,’ because it was not worth the confrontation. He wanted to go very bad,” John Howard said.
If convicted, Daniel Howard faces up to life in prison under Idaho law.
