COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The defense attorney for Daniel Howard, the former Idaho State Patrol trooper accused of killing his wife, now has the floor.
Attorney Jason Johnson attempted to establish the suspect's character through the testimony of his life-long friend, Chris McCulloch.
McCullough told the jury he visited with Howard shortly after Kendy's death. He described Howard as broken hearted and distraught over his wife's death. During questions from prosecutors, McCulloch said he believes his friend did not kill Kendy.
"40 years of living and being together says so, sir," McCulloch said in court Thursday. "I believe him because I know him."
The judge later restricted further testimony from McCulloch after learning he watched a live stream of the trial last week. The judge says that violates the order for all witnesses in this case.
Spokane County's former medical examiner Dr. John Howard did the initial autopsy on Kendy. In his testimony, Dr. Howard maintained a gunshot wound was Kendy's cause of death.
This contradicts testimony from the state's experts who say she died from the "carotid restraint technique," which cuts off the blood flow to the brain.
At this time, KREM 2 doesn't know if the suspect will take the stand. But, the defense attorney plans to call his final expert witness on Monday when court returns from recess.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.