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Reply With QuoteTweetJury finds 'windshield death' defendant guilty
Thursday, June 26, 2003 Posted: 2:00 PM EDT (1800 GMT)
Chante Mallard reacts to the jury's verdict Thursday.
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A Texas woman accused of hitting a man with her car and leaving him to die pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Affiliate KDFW reports.
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A look at the gruesome case that has a woman motorist facing murder charges.
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Court TV.com: Jury returns guilty verdicts
FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- Jurors delivered two guilty verdicts Thursday against a former nurse's aide who hit a homeless man with her car, driving home with his mangled body lodged in the windshield and leaving him to die in her garage.
With unanimous verdicts reached in less than an hour, the jury determined Chante Jawan Mallard guilty of murder and tampering with evidence.
Mallard faces life in prison on the murder conviction and 10 years stemming from her guilty plea earlier this week on a separate charge of tampering with evidence. The sentencing phase was to start later Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Mallard, 25, brimmed with tears when the judge read the verdicts. Earlier, she listened somberly, a slight tremble visible as her defense attorney and the prosecutor argued over whether she was guilty of murder or simply failing to secure medical help for Gregory Biggs, 37, the man she struck on the morning of October 26, 2001.
Mallard's legal team never disputed that she killed Gregory Biggs, 37, in the predawn hours of October 26, 2001, after a night of drinking, smoking pot and taking Ecstasy. But they said the death was an accident -- not murder.
In closing arguments, defense attorney **** Kearney told the jurors the prosecution had not made "a clear, convincing case for murder," claiming the state's witnesses "are not very credible.
"The act has to cause the death," Kearney said. "If failure to provide medical help caused the death, then they cannot prove murder. ... It was the failure to get medical help, not any act."
Examiners gave differing accounts
Prosecutors said she should pay the price for taking a man's life and trying to hide it.
"She stole his life," prosecutor Richard Alpert said, pointing to Mallard as she sat solemnly next to her attorney. "She stole his hope of anyone else saving his life. That's murder."
The prosecution contended Biggs was moaning and could have survived if he had received immediate medical aid, and accuses Mallard of "indifference" in the hours after he was hit.
On Wednesday, the medical examiner for Tarrant County testified Gregory Biggs could have survived for hours before succumbing to his injuries after he was hit while walking along a highway.
According to Dr. Nizam Peerwani, Biggs had no "instantaneously fatal injuries. He did not have any spinal cord trauma, no brain trauma, no major cardiac lacerations or lacerations to the aorta or major blood vessels."
He had "serious injuries" but could have stayed alive for many hours, the doctor said. When he was hit, Biggs left leg was almost amputated, and his right arm, right upper thigh and right lower leg were broken.
Biggs' body was found October 27, 2001, dumped in a park.
However, Bexar County Medical Examiner Dr. Vincent Di Maio cast doubt on some aspects of the prosecution's case, saying the impact of the crash would have knocked Biggs unconscious, so he probably wasn't moaning.
Victim had been homeless, son testified
Both the defense and prosecution agreed Mallard had been drinking and had taken drugs before the collision.
Prosecutor Christy Jack disputed the defense contention that Mallard was hysterical, saying she had "the wherewithal to lie to the police."
"She lied about ... the number of drinks she had, about the pot, and taking Ecstasy," Jack said during her closing argument. "She said someone put something in her drink."
Mallard kept the secret about Biggs for four months, Jack said, until a tip led police to her garage.
Earlier this week, the victim's son testified that the 37-year-old Gregory Biggs had been homeless about two years when he died.
Brandon Biggs said his father also suffered from mild schizophrenia and a bipolar psychiatric condition, which hampered his ability to work.
The judge has imposed a gag order in the case, preventing lawyers and family members from discussing it publicly.
