Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990                   TAG: 9005080332
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FAMILY FEUD GOES TO COURT/ TRIAL UNDER WAY IN MONTGOMERY

But Monday, nearly four years later, that dispute made its way into a Montgomery County courtroom as the trial for a complicated series of lawsuits among Howard, her brother-in-law and eight others got under way.

The lawsuits that are to be heard by a jury this week stem from a shooting incident at Katherine Howard's home in Elliston on the night of Aug. 1, 1986.

The shooting, according to previous testimony and opening statements Monday, was the climax of an ongoing dispute between Katherine's husband, John, and his younger brother, Frank Howard. The dispute was over property owned by their mother, Mabel, and was rife with claims by both sides of harassment, threats and vandalism.

About midnight that night, gunfire broke out between two security guards - who had been hired to watch John and Katherine Howard's home - and a group of seven people who had parked their cars at the edge of Frank Howard's property, which was adjacent to John Howard's property.

Both sides said the other fired first.

Steven Jewel, 29, a friend of Frank Howard's, was shot in the left leg, right arm and lower abdomen by one of the security guards. Another friend, Jimmy Miller, was nicked in the hand.

James D. Clark and Burke W. May, who have admitted to firing rifles, handguns and a shotgun from inside the Howards' carport, were charged with malicious wounding but haven't been prosecuted.

A year after the shooting, Jewel filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against Clark, May, Katherine Howard and the estate of her deceased husband. John Howard died of carbon monoxide poisoning after he apparently ran a pipe from the tailpipe of his pickup truck to the cab.

After that, Katherine Howard filed suits against Jewel, Miller, Frank Howard, his wife Joyce and three others who had been on Frank Howard's property and involved in the shooting that night.

Those six, excluding Jewel, then filed counterclaims against Katherine Howard, each seeking $3 million in damages for emotional distress.

"That's what this [case] is all about - money," Jerry Jebo said in his opening statement. Jebo, an attorney from Radford, is co-representing Katherine Howard along with Roanoke attorney Don Huffman.

A jury, picked Monday morning to hear the case in Montgomery County Circuit Court, listened to opening statements from attorneys.

Twenty witnesses scheduled to testify this week were sworn in.

James Turk of Radford and Keith Neely of Christiansburg will represent Jewel and the six other defendants.

Clark and May, who have been named as defendants only in Jewel's lawsuit, are representing themselves.

In his opening statement, Clark said he takes full responsibility for firing the shots that injured Jewel. But, he said, he was shooting in self defense and shot only at those who were shooting at him.

"I felt righteous in what I had done. I felt I had saved the lives of the people in the John Howard home and I felt I had probably saved a murder," Clark said.

May also said he believes he did the right thing and fired back "in fear of my life and the lives of those who were in that house."

Turk painted a very different picture.

He called Clark and May "hired guns" who used semi-automatic weapons and wore camouflage fatigues to carry out a "well-orchestrated attack" against Frank Howard, Jewel and the others.

Jebo called it "an unfortunate incident all the way around," in which the only person who really suffered was Katherine Howard.

The trial continues today.