ACTION ALERT - Defend Wendy Howard

Heidi • November 2, 2022

Wendy is a mother and grandmother who killed her abusive ex in self defense and was charged with murder

California Coalition for Women Prisoners, a supporter organization of the Felony Murder Elimination Project, is organizing a Twitter Power Hour to raise awareness about Wendy Howard’s case and to help raise funds for her legal defense. CCWP and other organizations will be participating by answering questions during the hour.



Here’s a quick, easy checklist of what you need to do:


  1. Follow @defendwendy on Twitter.
  2. On Wednesday, November 2 -  TODAY -  from 12 noon to 1PM, like, comment and share tweets from @defendwendy. Join in the conversation.


That’s it!


*****


Wendy Howard and her daughters were physically, sexually, and verbally abused by Wendy's abusive partner as far back as 2002 when they first met. Some of these incidents


  • He beat Wendy with a baseball bat while she was pregnant with their daughter. Felony charges were filed against him in Ventura County.
  • He attempted to rape Wendy.
  • He sexually assaulted one of Wendy’s minor daughters, touching her inappropriately, exposing his genitals to her, and trying to coerce her into watching pornography with him.
  • He has also been accused by other women in the community of abuse.


Wendy took legal action to try and stop all the abuse, but her appeals were ignored by the Kern County District Attorney. Finally, in 2019, the abuser sexually assaulted his (and Wendy’s) biological daughter, who was also a minor. When Wendy discovered the assault, she immediately filed a report with the Tehachapi Police Department, which opened an investigation but took no action. Four days later, the abuser attacked Wendy at her home while her children and grandchildren were in the house, and Wendy was forced to shoot him in self-defense.


She was found not guilty on all charges but voluntary manslaughter, which the jury deadlocked on. She will return to court on Friday November 18th for a status hearing, where the DA will announce if they plan to retry Wendy on the one remaining charge of voluntary manslaughter, try to negotiate a lesser plea deal, or drop the charges.


Use the checklist above to advocate for Wendy and show your support on Twitter during the Power Hour TODAY. To read more about Wendy's story, visit www.defendwendy.com

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