Mike Irwin
Member
FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas jury on Thursday found a woman guilty of murdering a homeless man when she left him to bleed to death in her garage after running into him and driving home with him lodged in the windshield.
The jury, which deliberated less than an hour, also found Mallard guilty of tampering with evidence, for which she could be sentenced to between two and 10 tears in prison.
Mallard closed her eyes and appeared to choke back tears as the verdict was read.
Mallard hit Biggs, 37, after a night of drinking and drug use, then drove the nearly two miles home with him stuck in the windshield, his body hanging down into the car.
Prosecutors said she left Biggs to slowly die in her darkened garage while she plotted with friends on how to dispose of the body.
Medical experts said he bled to death from a nearly amputated left leg.
"There is no question that Chante's failure to render aid or call for assistance probably caused his death," Mallard's attorney James Kearney said in closing arguments. But he said, "That is not murder."
Kearney questioned the reliability of testimony provided by Mallard's friends, who said the former nurse's aide plotted with them to dispose of the body while Biggs was dying.
Prosecutor Christy Jack said in her closing arguments that when Mallard drove with Biggs wedged in her car and decided to shut her garage door instead of calling for help, she guaranteed his death.
"Every breath he drew was more painful than the last. Merely inches away was a woman who held his life in the palm of her hand," Jack said in describing the scene in Mallard's compact Chevrolet car.
Jack said Mallard knew Biggs was alive in her car when she shut her garage door and started calling her friends, and every decision made after that time was done with the intent of trying to get away with the crime and not seeking to help him.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Biggs testified on Wednesday the homeless man must have been in excruciating pain and would have lived if he received prompt medical attention for his wounds.
The defense called only one witness, a medical examiner from another Texas county who said he thought Biggs lost consciousness after slamming through the windshield and died within two hours.
Following the verdict, the jury was to hear more testimony, then determine her punishment.
The jury, which deliberated less than an hour, also found Mallard guilty of tampering with evidence, for which she could be sentenced to between two and 10 tears in prison.
Mallard closed her eyes and appeared to choke back tears as the verdict was read.
Mallard hit Biggs, 37, after a night of drinking and drug use, then drove the nearly two miles home with him stuck in the windshield, his body hanging down into the car.
Prosecutors said she left Biggs to slowly die in her darkened garage while she plotted with friends on how to dispose of the body.
Medical experts said he bled to death from a nearly amputated left leg.
"There is no question that Chante's failure to render aid or call for assistance probably caused his death," Mallard's attorney James Kearney said in closing arguments. But he said, "That is not murder."
Kearney questioned the reliability of testimony provided by Mallard's friends, who said the former nurse's aide plotted with them to dispose of the body while Biggs was dying.
Prosecutor Christy Jack said in her closing arguments that when Mallard drove with Biggs wedged in her car and decided to shut her garage door instead of calling for help, she guaranteed his death.
"Every breath he drew was more painful than the last. Merely inches away was a woman who held his life in the palm of her hand," Jack said in describing the scene in Mallard's compact Chevrolet car.
Jack said Mallard knew Biggs was alive in her car when she shut her garage door and started calling her friends, and every decision made after that time was done with the intent of trying to get away with the crime and not seeking to help him.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Biggs testified on Wednesday the homeless man must have been in excruciating pain and would have lived if he received prompt medical attention for his wounds.
The defense called only one witness, a medical examiner from another Texas county who said he thought Biggs lost consciousness after slamming through the windshield and died within two hours.
Following the verdict, the jury was to hear more testimony, then determine her punishment.
