Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard helped marry, then bury Michael Leslie Severance.

The San Angelo judge presided over Michael’s marriage to Wendi Mae Davidson on Sept. 13, 2004, and was on hand March 6 when Michael’s body was pulled from a pond owned by Davidson family friend Terrell Sheen. He signed the first arrest warrant charging Wendi with tampering with evidence on March 5 and Michael’s death certificate several weeks later.

Howard said he was a little shocked when he saw a photograph of Michael at the pond and recognized the polite young man he had married just six months before.

“I have gone to the deaths of friends before. In our business, that happens,” Howard said. “I knew I had something to do with him and when I looked at the body I knew who it was.

“The idea that you had a part of their life in another venue brings a little more shock, a little more reality, into the situation,” he added.

That’s one reason why Howard wants to ensure that no premature release of information about the case occurs.

“We’ve got a great police department here, great police officers and better than average judges,” Howard said. “The gripe is that the information [flow] on the case is shut down. Well, it’s shut down because Mrs. Davidson is going on trial here. We have to have a jury of her peers decide her case, and no one wants the jury pool tainted.”

He hoped the case won’t have to be moved. It costs Tom Green County as much as $750,000 to hold a full jury trial on a homicide case and twice that amount if the case is moved, Howard said.

A justice of the peace for 11 years, Howard, 55, called the Severance homicide one of the worst he has seen. Not too often has he seen a body buried in water with 41 stab wounds, he said. He characterized the wounds as indicative not of rage, but of thoroughness, with the intent to keep the body from floating.

Howard’s work, and his opinion, carry much respect in the county. As a justice of the peace, Howard handles a variety of duties, from presiding over criminal court – Class C misdemeanors and infractions only – to handling death certificates and marriages, mental competency hearings, small claims court and other civil disputes.

“He’s got impeccable credibility and integrity and works hard to do what is right in the eyes of the public and in every aspect of his life,” said Fred Buck, a justice of the peace in a district that adjoins Howard’s. “Unless he felt the need to recuse himself, he would not let any relationship be any influence to discredit what he was doing with his position.”

Howard has been a Church of Christ minister, a real estate agent and a dog trainer who specializes in canines that find lost people, said Buck, who has known Howard for about seven years.

“He has the ability to put his ministry and his job together and say the right things in trying situations without having to think about it,” Buck said.

“I like the variety of my job. Every day is different,” said Howard, a former Oklahoma resident who has lived in San Angelo since 1978. “I don’t do much of the same thing on the same day. It keeps things fresh.”