Nancy Howard took the witness stand for the first time Thursday afternoon to give her account of the night she was shot in the face; a plan prosecutors say was put together by her husband.
Howard told the jury she was returning home from an event at her church on August 18, 2012.
After stopping at a Taco Bueno to pick up dinner she said she arrived at the Carrollton home she lived in with her husband John Franklin Howard and got out in the garage.
Howard said an unknown man approached her and put a gun in her face telling her to hand over her money.
She told the jury she complied, shoving her purse into the man’s chest and then cried, “Jesus save me,” before the gunman shot her in the left eye.
That bullet would travel through her facial area and end up in her right shoulder.
Nancy Howard said she lost her left eye, suffered some brain damage, and underwent other injuries as a result, but at the time thought for sure she was going to die.
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Howard told the jury when the OnStar button in her car wouldn’t work, because the gunman had her keys, she had to drag herself bleeding into the family’s home to get to a phone and call 911 for help. At one point, she recalled looking in the mirror and seeing her face as “a bloody mess.”
Before the shooting, Howard described her marriage to John, who she called Frank, as slowly failing.
She said at one point they had a strong relationship, attending church together and raising their kids, but when he started traveling regularly for work to California in 2010, she described her attempts to save their marriage.
Prosecutors claim it wasn’t just work taking John to California, but also another woman who he was living with out there in a double life.
During opening statements Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck alleged that when pressed by the other woman to end his marriage to Nancy, John began paying thousands of dollars to multiple people trying to have her killed, eventually leading up to the shooting.
The defense has not yet launched their case, only saying during opening arguments that the situation was “built on blackmail and drug use.”
Earlier Thursday, the defense pushed for a mistrial after questions came up about the procedure used by Carrollton police investigators when notarizing affidavits of witness statements. That motion was ultimately dismissed by Judge Bruce McFarling.
The trial continues with Nancy giving more testimony Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
John Franklin Howard faces charges of attempt to commit capital murder and, if convicted, could face life in prison.
