From prison, Wendi wrote repeatedly to Les Severance. She referred to Severance custody attorney Tom Goff as “the devil.” She discussed the paternity of her son Tristan, writing:
They’ll never figure out who the father is. They are so stupid. They can’t see who is right under their nose.
Wendi desperately wanted to talk to her former father-in-law, but she was adamant on one condition—she had to meet with him alone, without anyone else in the room. Les wanted to hear what she had to say. The warden, however, would not cooperate. A prisoner could not meet with a family member alone.
On June 21, 2007, Wendi was served with a bench warrant and moved back to Tom Green County Jail. She would remain there for five months.
The small town of Lee had gathered behind the family of Michael Severance, holding them up in their time of loss, mourning the death of one of their own at another’s hand. More pain ripped through their hearts in 2007.
On June 23, a roadside bomb tore through a humvee in Taji, Iraq, stealing the life of another native son and Lee Academy graduate, 22-year-old Army specialist Joel House, the brother of Michael’s best friend. The tears did not have time to dry before they were invoked anew on November 30. Blair Emery, a 24-year-old Army corporal was felled by another roadside bomb in Baghdad. He’d been scheduled to return home in early November, but like many fighting that war, his deployment had been extended. Blair was Frank Severance’s best friend.
Frank staggered under the blow. Only in his early twenties, Frank’s life had been a litany of sudden loss—first his mother, then his brother and now his dearest schoolmate. He told the Portland Press Herald, “It feels like I’m losing a brother all over again.”
The folks in Lee bowed under their sorrow. Joel had planned to be a game warden when he left the military, Blair a police officer. Now, both of their dreams were gone, their contributions to their community unfulfilled.
Lee, like other rural areas across the United States, carried a disproportionate burden during this war. A study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire found that although
rural areas account for only 19 percent of the adult population in the United States [they] have suffered 27 percent of the casualties . . . the death rate for rural soldiers is 60 percent higher than the death rate for those soldiers from cities and urban areas.
The institute believed that the enlistment rate was higher out in the countryside because of the more limited employment opportunities present in rural areas.
Although deeply touched by the losses of these two young men in their community, the Severance family had a reason to celebrate that Christmas. Shane was coming to visit for a full month. It was a time filled with happiness and new fond memories.
Back in Texas, bad news was brewing. The audiotape of Lloyd Davidson’s disturbing conversation didn’t prompt CPS to investigate. Angie Voss, the same CPS employee who, in the spring of 2008, would pull hundreds of children out of the FLDS compound in Eldorado, took no action after hearing Lloyd’s rant. People aware of the tape couldn’t understand how she’d ignored such a blatant example of verbal abuse.
Tom Goff had argued for months for the inclusion of the audiotape in court for the custody hearing. Judge Jay Weatherby resisted until finally admitting, “How come everyone else can hear this and I can’t?”
“Judge, have you tried headphones?” Goff asked. The judge plugged in a pair, listened and agreed to admit the audiotape. Goff was jubilant. He believed, with that item in evidence, Les Severance’s victory was a slam dunk. He didn’t, however, count on local politics.
Throughout the hearings, dozens of people testified on behalf of the Severance family. No one did so for the Davidsons. Shane’s ad litem attorney produced a report demonstrating that the environment at the Davidson household was poor, at best. The one at the Severance home was excellent. Psychologist Johnny Burkhalter, however, disregarded all the reasons for awarding custody to Les. He was focused on one thing: it was detrimental, he believed, to separate Tristan and Shane. The counselor hired by the Severance side disagreed, saying that that rationale “defied common sense.” Judge Weatherby, however, agreed with Burkhalter’s assessment, awarding custody to Judy and Lloyd Davidson.
Tom Goff lashed out. “This custody case was a no-brainer. The entire system failed the Severance family from Maine—the criminal justice system, the child protection system and the legal system. They failed Michael. They failed Les. They failed Shane. I am very disappointed in the system.”
Goff appealed the decision to the same judge who’d issued the ruling. He noted that Judy and Lloyd Davidson received more than $2,000 monthly from an Air Force benefit and Social Security to care for the two boys, as well as a $500,000 life insurance policy.
It is shocking that the family of Wendi Mae Davidson will benefit financially from the murder of Shane Michael Severance’s father by his mother. This fact alone should convince any trier of fact that it is not in the best interest of the child to be with and be in the custody of [Lloyd and Judy Davidson].
Weatherby rejected the Severance claim. The only recourse now was to appeal it to a higher court outside of San Angelo. That required money and resources that the Severance family simply did not have. It was a bitter pill for them to swallow. They still suspected that someone in the Davidson family had helped Wendi with the disposal of Michael’s body, and now Michael’s son was going to live in their midst. Les would have gladly taken Tristan into their home as well, because they knew that Michael had loved Tristan and the fatherless little boy had loved Les’s son.
On February 18, 2008, Lloyd wrote another letter to Texas Parks and Wildlife—this time to the new executive director, Carter Smith.
I would like to introduce myself and my wife and congratulate you on your new job with TPWD. My name is Lloyd Davidson and my wife is Judy Davidson. We are the proud parents of Marshall Davidson, who was a Texas Game Warden before he was wrongfully terminated from your department.
Lloyd detailed his outrage once again and wrapped up his letter with questions:
Please let me know if your department has started an investigation of Ranger Palmer and notified the District Attorney. Also are steps being taken to get Marshall Davidson back in the field as a Texas Game Warden?
Lloyd definitely was a tenacious man. And Ranger Palmer was not the only person in his sights. He placed blame on all but the one person who really deserved it—his daughter, Wendi Davidson. “They never had proof. No motive. No time frame. They really have nothing.” But by 2008, he was no longer mentioning the possibility of her innocence.
On March 13, 2008, the Texas Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied Wendi’s appeal, upholding her conviction. Justice Jan Patterson wrote:
Because AFOSI agents had an independent military purpose for their investigation, they did not violate the Posse Comitatus Act and were authorized to and did comply with their rules and regulations to install and monitor the tracking device. The record does not show that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that the police did not violate appellant’s reasonable expectation of privacy by monitoring the tracking device on Sheen’s property and the evidence obtained through use of the device was properly admitted. Having overruled the appellant’s sole issue, we affirm the trial court’s order denying appellant’s motion to suppress and the judgments of conviction.
The defense took their case to the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. On September 3, 2008, they denied a rehearing of the case. Wendi had exhausted her line of appeals in the state court system.
In between the two decisions, Wendi wrote a letter pleading her case:
I swear, I did not murder my husband. I did not interview with the police, I did not go to trial, and never, ever have I told my version of anything. Basically, upon poor advice, I plead “no contest,” assuming upon more bad advice, I would be freed within a few short months on appeal.
Despite the fact that her license had been revoked, she signed the letter: “Wendi Davidson, DVM.”