'I called on God to save me... and he did': Wife 'shot in face by hitman hired by her accountant husband' speaks for first time - and he says he wants her BACK

Face off in court: Nancy Howard was in a coma and doctors say it is a miracle she is alive, never mind walking and talking after she was shot in the head

The wife of an accountant accused of using company money to hire a hitman to kill her has spoken for the first time since a bullet ripped through her left eye and lodged in her lung.

After she was shot in her driveway on August 18, Nancy Howard was in a coma and doctors say it is a miracle she is alive, never mind walking and talking.

Speaking to News8 outside court, she said: 'I prayed through the whole incident and called on God to save me, and he did. He carried me through.

Accused: Her estranged husband John Howard appeared in court today wearing his wedding ring and said he wants to reconcile with his wife

'I am thankful. Thankful that I have life, thankful that God has given me life. That's going to be a great future.'
Nancy Howard faced her estranged husband John in court on Tuesday. He was arrested late last month accused of paying a hit man around $100,000 to kill his wife. He denies the charge.

During the hearing, Mrs Howard asked for $250,000 from him for medical and living expenses which was granted by he judge.

Howard's lawyer Arch McColl said his client is actively working toward a reconciliation with his estranged wife.

'He would like to reconcile with her, and I believe, she with him,' McColl told News8. 'I think they've got a possibility of doing that. I think they're both people of strong faith; he's been very active in his church for 30 years — 25 or 30 years — he sings in the choir.'

John Franklin Howard, from Carrollton, Dallas, is accused of paying two hit men $85,000 to murder his wife Nancy, who miraculously survived the attempt on her life on August 18 when she was shot in the eye

The former CFO of Raley Holdings is also being sued by his company. The lawsuit accuses him of using his power to sign company checks and his knowledge of the company’s banking and tax information to funnel money from the company.

It is believed he used this money to pay his alleged secret mistress' lifestyle.
He then wired some of that money to the hit men, classifying it as 'office supplies', it is alleged.

Howard has admitted to having had an affair for four years and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the other woman.

'Yeah, we've acknowledged that,' McColl said. 'He's human; that doesn't mean he's guilty of a crime.'

The couple's daughter Ashley Faus has been keeping a blog on her mother's progress since the night of her attempted murder.

She defended her father on her mother's CaringBridge page, saying: 'There is quite a bit of hearsay going around these days, and I’ve presented the facts about my mother’s injuries and progress throughout this journey.'

 

Alleged plot: Billie Johnson, left, told police that his nephew, 19-year-old Dustin Taylor Hiroms, right, was hired by Howard to murder his wife

She then continues to list the reasons why she believes her father is innocent, which include how he stayed by her side in hospital night and day until he was arrested and that he fully cooperated with police before even asking for a lawyer.

She also reveals: 'My dad passed a third party polygraph test regarding accusations that he was involved in the incident with my mom.

'He answered, "no" to every question regarding the incident, and a certified expert found no deception in his answers.'

This was not an official police polygraph so may not be admissible as evidence in his trial.

Howard's arrest affidavit said: 'The unknown suspect put a silver colored handgun to Nancy's head and demanded her purse. Nancy gave the suspect her purse and was then shot in the face.

'The bullet traveled through her throat and lodged just above her right lung...[she was] able to call 911 and talk with the dispatcher and EMTs before they intubated and sedated her.'

An arrest warrant alleged that he had a mistress in California and had planned his wife's assassination for years. They have three children.

Raley’s lawsuit alleges that Howard used his power to sign company checks and his knowledge of the company’s banking and tax information to funnel money from the company.

They are seeking damages and a restraining order and are asking JPMorgan to freeze the accounts in question.

Investigators believe that in the last three years, he bought his mistress a condominium, an $800,000 house, and gave her half a million dollars to pay her daughter’s college tuition.

Nancy Howard wrote that she had thought the couples' assets were all in a joint account, but at the bail hearing 'it was revealed that there are several "shadow" companies that he owns and that he may be in control of over $32 million'.