Jury to begin murder trial deliberations

COEUR d’ALENE — After both sides presented closing arguments Monday, jurors are poised to begin deliberations today in the trial of Daniel Howard, a former Idaho State Police trooper accused of killing his wife three years ago.

Daniel Howard has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and felony domestic battery. Prosecutors say he killed his wife, Kendy Howard, via asphyxiation in February 2021 and then staged the scene to make it look as though she died by suicide. Defense counsel maintains that Kendy Howard shot herself.

Daniel Howard remains in jail after he was arrested late Friday at the Spokane International Airport. He wore civilian clothes in court.

First District Judge Lamont Berecz ruled that jurors would not be told about the incident, nor would they be polled on whether they had seen news reports about the arrest.

“I feel strongly that this jury has been attentive and conscientious in following the court’s orders and rules,” he said.

Daniel Howard was released from jail in December 2023 on a $1.5 million property bond, which stipulated he must wear an ankle monitor, abide by an 11 p.m. curfew and not come within 2 miles of the Spokane International Airport.

Prosecutors said Daniel Howard went to the airport Friday night, taking an “evasive maneuver” on the highway. He had a gun in the vehicle. Defense counsel said Daniel Howard was accompanying a friend to return a rental car and forgot about the airport restriction.

Berecz issued a bench warrant for Daniel Howard’s arrest late Friday, after learning he had violated the terms of his release. He said he was concerned by the circumstances but noted the defendant did not remove his ankle monitor, nor did he have a plane ticket, luggage or a large amount of cash.

“In the months before Kendy Howard’s death, she was moving toward something,” prosecuting attorney Julia Schoffstall told jurors. “She was moving toward a new future, a new house, a new relationship, a new life that was away from the financial, emotional and psychological control of the defendant.”

Kendy Howard had many reasons to live, prosecutors said: her parents, her children, her granddaughter. She’d fallen in love with a man who lived in her hometown of Kamiah, where she planned to buy a house and perhaps someday open an antique store.

She told friends and coworkers about her plans to move. She scheduled a consultation for cosmetic surgery. She spoke with friends in real estate about selling property.

She also met with an attorney and revealed to her husband that she wanted a divorce, later telling friends he didn’t take it well. Prosecutors allege Daniel Howard couldn’t bear the thought of splitting $2 million in shared assets with his wife in a divorce.

The night of Jan. 29, 2021, Kendy Howard said she woke to her husband standing over her, dressed in dark clothing. She bolted into the bathroom and called the man she was dating, who in turn called her parents. Police soon responded to the Howard home in Athol, where Kendy Howard told a deputy she feared her husband would kill her. She spent the night at her parents’ home before returning to Athol.

Three days later, Daniel Howard confronted his wife’s brother about his suspicions that she was seeing another man.

The night of Feb. 2, he called 911.

“She’s dead,” he told the dispatcher. “She has no pulse. She’s cold.”

Daniel Howard told police he and his wife argued over the house she intended to buy and she ran upstairs to take a bath. He heard a thump but thought nothing of it until he found her dead in the bathtub with a gunshot wound in her mouth.

Throughout the trial, medical experts testified that Kendy Howard’s body was covered in bruises sustained before death. She had a second-degree burn on her forearm, plus a broken jaw. Blood trails on her face appeared to travel upward, against gravity, suggesting her body was moved after death.

The bullet, which had a downward trajectory inconsistent with suicide, nearly bisected her tongue. If she had shot herself, prosecutors said, her heart would’ve kept beating for a short time and at least a liter of blood would’ve sprayed from her mouth. Prosecutors said the lack of blood at the scene indicates Kendy Howard was shot after she died.

Defense attorney Jason Johnson argued that Kendy Howard died by suicide because her “double life” had been exposed. In messages to friends, she said she was having a “midlife crisis” and expressed anxiety about the split from her husband.

“Her plan was not to have the affair come out to her family and friends and have that be the reason for the divorce,” Johnson said.

Johnson said prosecutors presented no theories or evidence about where Daniel Howard allegedly attacked his wife. He also suggested the bruises all over Kendy Howard’s body may have come from the autopsy.

Daniel Howard sustained no defensive wounds, Johnson said, and Kendy Howard had no skin or blood under her nails.

Though Kendy Howard’s death was a tragedy, Johnson urged jurors to focus on the facts of the case.

“It’s very understandable to feel the loss of Kendy, but you as a juror have the toughest job of being able to separate those emotions,” he said.