04/08/2023
****OFFICIAL STATEMENT: WENDY HOWARD CASE CONCLUDES WITH ALFORD PLEA, NO PRISON TIME******
Dear Community,
Yesterday, April 7th, Wendy Howard’s case concluded with her entering an Alford plea for voluntary manslaughter in order to avoid a second retraumatizing trial for her and her family. She received a sentence of time served, no restitution, and one year probation. Simply put, Wendy will not go to prison for defending herself. While any innocent person would feel defeated entering a plea for a crime they did not commit, we consider Wendy’s freedom a victory due to the fact that Kern County DA Cynthia Zimmer sought to incarcerate Wendy, a 53-year-old mother and grandmother, for 50 years to life by shockingly charging her with first-degree murder for defending herself when she was in danger. We are happy to report they lost that battle due to a fabricated narrative and lack of evidence. We would never have secured this hard-fought victory without the dedicated work of Wendy’s defense attorney, Tony Lidgett, and the unwavering support from Wendy’s family, friends, and advocates, to whom we are tremendously grateful.
By entering an Alford plea, Wendy is able to maintain her innocence while simultaneously accepting a conviction. According to an ABC23 interview with Bakersfield defense attorney Kyle Humphrey, “The concept is that sometimes the person who maintains their innocence is offered such a good plea bargain under the circumstances they want to take it, but they don't want to say 'I'm guilty’”. Humphrey says one benefit of the Alford plea to defendants is that it presents less of a long-term risk to employment prospects and other future opportunities for the defendant.”
The opportunity to enter an Alford plea and maintain innocence provides relief to what otherwise feels like a coerced plea deal. When DAs threaten defendants with the financial, emotional, and spiritual burden of facing a second trial, they effectively force them into taking a plea deal, rather than face the nightmare of a retrial. Such was the case of criminalized survivor, Michaele Bowers, who Kern County DA Cynthia Zimmer retried twice, and even threatened with a third trial before Ms. Bowers pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
In Wendy’s particular case, she had not only herself, but her daughters, Bayley and Miranda, who were forced to testify to their own sexual abuse, in addition to her entire family to consider. This was a courageous decision made by a loving matriarch who faced indescribable injustice from a system that failed to protect her from a man who had a long history and documented record of severe domestic violence and child sexual abuse.
The Kern County DA failed to keep Tehachapi residents safe from his violence and instead of accounting for their own failure to keep the public safe, they chose to prosecute a woman who was trying to stay alive in an attack that they could have prevented. Wendy's family and Kern County residents should never have had to pay for the DA's failure to protect public safety, and DA Cynthia Zimmer’s legacy will be defined by her office’s terrifying pattern of punishing victims of r**e, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse who defend their lives.
Wendy’s gag order, which the DA requested to silence her nearly four years ago, will be lifted after her sentencing on May 4th. We are hopeful that AB1497 will pass, which would allow survivors to have their violent felonies vacated in cases of domestic violence and human trafficking. This would allow Wendy to petition to clear her record and put this horrendous injustice behind her.
We thank all the community members and advocates who have been tremendously supportive of Wendy throughout this four-year nightmare. Thank you for your prayers, your generous donations to Wendy’s legal defense fund, and your constant messages of support and solidarity. To the criminalized survivors and defense campaigns across the nation that have supported Wendy, thank you in particular for your support; it has meant everything and we send love and solidarity right back at you. To Wendy, Bayley, Miranda, and the entire family: we honor you as beacons of strength, survival, and resilience. To Wendy: you are kind, thoughtful, and risked your life to defend your family. You are not your plea deal, and your plea deal does not define you.
To contribute to the ongoing healing journey of this family, please consider contributing today: https://gogetfunding.com/justiceforwendy/
To view press coverage from this week, please see the comprehensive and heartfelt coverage from The Californian’s Ishani Desai, KGET17’s Mikhala Armstrong, and ABC23’s Brianna Willis.
If you feel moved to get more involved in supporting people like Wendy, please get in touch with Survived & Punished and California Coalition for Women Prisoners, who collectively provided expansive and compassionate support to Wendy.
In Loving Solidarity,
The Wendy Howard Defense Committee
Defendwendy.com
