Attorney Michael Howard (Sabine County Sheriff’s Office).
A Houston lawyer who claimed he mistook his adult son for an intruder before fatally shooting him with a shotgun and cremating his body on a “wood” and “trash” pile will be prosecuted by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, according to a report.
Michael C. Howard, who was 68 at the time of the 2024 slaying, was at a lake house several hours outside the city, near the Toledo Bend Reservoir, with his son Mark Howard when the shooting “accidentally” occurred, according to a Sabine County Sheriff’s Office press release, which was posted on Facebook by the local Sabine County Reporter newspaper.
Local prosecutors told the ABC affiliate KTRE that Howard’s case was transferred after a motion was filed by San Augustine County District Attorney Paul Robbins, who asked to recuse his office. The decision came after the AG’s office issued an opinion that said local prosecutors’ staff could become necessary trial witnesses, KTRE reports.
Police allege that Michael Howard called the DA’s office the day after killing Mark Howard and spoke in detail with its chief investigator. Police said the call was his first contact with law enforcement.
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Mark Howard, who has Down syndrome, was on his dad’s property in Sabine County when Michael Howard allegedly mistook him for an intruder. Sabine and San Augustine counties share the same DA’s office.
“On December 2, 2024, a Deputy from the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office was contacted via public service by Michael C Howard,” the sheriff’s office said in its press release. “Howard advised [to police] that he had ‘accidentally’ shot his own son.”
Michael Howard allegedly confessed that after the shooting, he took his son’s body and “placed it in the front-loading bucket of a backhoe tractor and carried it to a remote area on his property.”
Police said the cremation happened there.
“[Michael Howard] placed the body on a wood/trash pile, which had been previously set up and then ‘cremated’ his son,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that Howard told responding deputies his son’s death was a “horrible accident.” Investigators found Mark Howard’s remains while executing a search warrant.
“All bones appeared to have been burned based on charring and the area they were found in, was heavy with soot and ash,” the sheriff’s office said.
Michael Howard was arrested and charged with murder and tampering with evidence.
According to the State Bar of Texas website, the Houston-based attorney runs a private practice in the Heights neighborhood and specializes in “ethics-legal malpractice, family, litigation: personal injury, oil, gas and energy resources” and real estate.
Records show that in 1995, the Board of Disciplinary Appeals suspended Michael Howard after he pleaded no contest to third-degree felony theft in Harris County. He received deferred adjudication and one year of probation, and his suspension lasted as long as his probation, according to board officials.
Michael Howard is out of jail on a $1 million bond.
The post Lawyer dad says he mistook son with Down syndrome for intruder, then hauled his dead body across property and burned remains on trash pile: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
