March 28, 2024
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Lee man upset by delay in murder trial

LEE – The father of a Lee native who was poisoned and stabbed 41 times had harsh words Wednesday for Texas court officials who for the third time have delayed the trial of the woman accused of murdering his son.

Les Severance of Lee said he was mystified as to why prosecutors and defense lawyers in San Angelo, Texas, elected on Tuesday to delay the murder trial of his daughter-in-law, Wendi Mae Davidson, until October. Davidson, a veterinarian, was due to go to trial on Aug. 21.

“It’s pretty lame,” Severance said Wednesday. “At this stage of the game, I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know what to feel, but it needs to be done. They need to get on with this [murder trial].

“You think you understand that it’s got to be done right, but by the same token, they have had plenty of time,” Severance added. “My God, we’re getting close to two years.”

Police accused Davidson, 28, of using drugs that normally euthanize animals to poison her husband, Michael Leslie Severance, 24, and of stabbing his body 41 times before dumping him in a San Angelo pond owned by a family friend, landowner Terrell Sheen, on Jan. 15, 2005.

Davidson was arrested March 5, 2005, and a grand jury later indicted her on two charges of tampering with evidence and a single count of murder.

Severance, an Air Force staff sergeant who grew up in Lee, was stationed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, at the time of his death, and lived in San Angelo with his wife at her veterinary clinic.

Davidson is free on bond, has pleaded innocent to the charges and an attorney representing her in the criminal proceedings has said she passed a lie detector test during which she said she did not kill her husband and did not know who did.

She did, however, admit to dumping the body, saying she came home early Jan. 15, and found Severance dead and feared that someone else in her family had committed the crime.

District 51 District Attorney Stephen R. Lupton, who will be prosecuting the case, told Severance during a telephone conversation on Tuesday that the trial would be delayed until Oct. 16, so that prosecutors could have more time to finish interviewing expert witnesses they plan to call for the trial.

Defense attorneys have said they are awaiting the results of independent DNA tests as well.

Previous trial dates were set in April, May and August. Lupton and defense attorney Melvin Gray of San Angelo, one of the attorneys defending Davidson, did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Wednesday.

The delay frustrated Julie Fesmire, whose husband, Derrick, served with Michael Leslie Severance. Derrick Fesmire is among 65 people subpoenaed by prosecutors to testify during the murder trial.

Other potential witnesses include members of the Severance-Leighton family of Lee; Sheen, a prominent San Angelo landowner; and a receptionist who worked at the San Angelo veterinary clinic where police say Severance was drugged.

Derrick Fesmire is among the last people to speak to Severance before his disappearance on the weekend of Jan. 15.

“I just don’t see how it’s taking so long,” Julie Fesmire said Wednesday. “Everyone wants closure for Mike, especially. His family and his friends need closure. It’s been over a year, and we still don’t have any type of closure or answers.

“That’s got to be a sinking feeling for the family. Your heart just getting weighed down,” she added. “It’s got to be, because you lost a person you loved so long ago and the justice for him hasn’t been done yet.”

The delay, however, might help prosecutors, Fesmire said, as three of the 65 subpoenaed are servicemen posted overseas, including the Air Force investigator who Severance family members credit with helping break the case.

“It might be a good thing because they will be back or just getting back by then,” she said.

The trial delay also slows resolution of the ongoing civil court custody battle over Severance’s son, Shane Michael Severance, and causes the Severances to continue to pay travel expenses to continue to see the baby.

Les Severance has sued for custody of the baby from Davidson’s parents, Judi and Lloyd Davidson, and has been awarded temporary joint custody with the elder Davidsons.

The baby visited with the family for about two weeks last month and was in good health, Les Severance said.

The custody case will resume in early 2007 if the murder trial goes forward in October, said Thomas Goff, a San Angelo attorney retained by the Severances.

“Les is ready to get this criminal part over with and it is weighing heavily upon him and it needs to get done,” Goff said. “It serves everybody to get this done. It’s got to be hard on Wendi and her family, too.

“Justice has to happen. It needs to be done right, certainly, and I have no question that they are trying to get it done as quickly as possible, but it’s time,” Goff added. “There has to be closure for everybody. No healing will occur unless there’s closure.”


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