Convicted killer goes on hunger strike in Kootenai County Jail
Daniel Howard, left, was convicted in March of murdering his wife, Kendy Howard.
KAYE THORNBRUGH/Press file
COEUR d’ALENE — A former Idaho State Police trooper who will be sentenced next week for his wife’s murder is on hunger strike and in poor physical condition, according to court records.
Daniel C. Howard, 58, was convicted in March of second-degree murder and domestic battery. Prosecutors said he killed his wife, Kendy Howard, via asphyxiation in February 2021 and then staged the scene to make it appear as though she died by suicide.
“(Howard) is currently participating in a voluntary hunger strike and has eaten and/or drank very little, if any, food and/or fluids in several days,” Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stan Mortensen wrote in an April 29 motion asking the court to intervene.
Court records indicate Howard had lost 50 pounds between March 15 and April 29, dropping from 210 pounds to 160 pounds. Prosecutors believed he had been flushing food and fluids down the toilet and “deceiving jail staff” when asked if he had consumed anything.
A blood sample provided April 29 indicated Howard was in “acute renal failure, early stage organ failure and possibly liver failure,” court records said. He reportedly requested that a priest administer last rites to him at the jail.
Medical personnel at the jail provided Howard with approximately one liter of intravenous fluid April 29, according to court records, though Howard refused “recommended medication and a protein shake/liquid food supplement.” Howard was transported to Kootenai Health but sent back to jail within an hour after “refusing to comply with the emergency room physician’s attempts to examine and treat” him.
Prosecutors asked the court to determine that Howard lacks the capacity to make informed medical decisions and to order that Howard be physically restrained with a “restraint chair” or “four-point restraint within a hospital bed,” then forcibly fed with a feeding tube or other means.
The state also asked for Howard’s sentencing, scheduled for May 23, to be moved up.
Howard’s attorney, Jason Johnson, did not object to his client being transferred to Kootenai Health but said he had “zero concerns” about Howard’s ability to understand what was happening or make decisions.
First District Judge Lamont Berecz denied the state’s motion.
“There is no statutory rule or case law to order intervention,” he said. “The court has no general authority to make an order, medically, outside of jurisdiction.”
Berecz also denied the state’s request that Howard undergo a mental health evaluation to determine his competency.
Mortensen said he believes Howard is “playing games with his health” and anticipated sentencing being delayed due to Howard’s health.
Howard remains in jail. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life.