Lawyer says client in drug haze while man died in her windshield
I've decided to create a new tradition here at TPRS. It's called The Dumass Awards, and, as the name implies, it's intended as a recognition of an inDUHvidual, who, through acts of monumentally stupid, willful ignorance, or merely subhuman criminal neglect created a result that no one in their wildest dreams could have imagined. This award may be bestowed daily, weekly, or in any other time increments that seem appropriate. I will be constantly on the lookout for those worthy of being held up to public ridicule, but I'm always in the market for nominations. You can send the to me at yuppieskum-at-yahoo-dot-com.
The very first DUMASS AWARD goes to Chante Jawan Mallard, who hit a man with her car, impaled him on her windshield, and then parked the vehicle in her garage while he bled to death- all the while no doubt in tremendous agony.
FORT WORTH - Jurors saw pictures of the twisted, bruised and bloody body of a homeless man today as a former nurse's aide went on trial on charges she hit him with her car, drove home with his body lodged grotesquely in the windshield and left him to die in her garage.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the murder case both said Chante Jawan Mallard, 27, smoked pot, took Ecstasy and drank heavily in the hours before she hit Gregory Biggs on a highway in the early hours of Oct. 26, 2001. The defense doesn't dispute what happened, but says it was an accident, not murder.
Defense attorney Jeff Kearney said Mallard was just one exit from her home, so she kept driving with "a body entirely in her car, the head in the floorboard, legs going in directions that no one thought humanely possible. You can't imagine."
Mallard faces life in prison if convicted. She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, tampering with evidence, before attorneys began opening statements on the murder charge. The tampering charge could lead to a sentence of two to 10 years.
When the images of Biggs' mangled body were shown on a large screen in the courtroom Monday, Mallard looked down, and some jurors looked away. Biggs' mother and son were not in the room when the photos were displayed.
Although Mallard had taken drugs, prosecutor Christy Jack said she could have stopped at a nearby fire or police station or called an ambulance after she hit Biggs.
She said Mallard stopped briefly and tried to get Biggs off her car, but when she couldn't, she drove about a mile to her home. Mallard then called one of her friends to pick her up, Jack said.
She and her friend went to find Mallard's ex-boyfriend to figure out what to do next. When they couldn't find him, they went back to the house, where Mallard took the friend into the garage, Jack said. By that time, Biggs was dead.
The friend told Mallard to call 911, Jack said.
"Chante refused because she didn't want her parents to know what she'd done and didn't want to go to jail," Jack said.
Kearney said after Mallard pulled into her garage and lowered the door, she sat in the car and cried, repeatedly apologizing to Biggs, who was moaning.
When the friend arrived at the house, Mallard was hysterical and "was blabbing, 'Lord, I'm sorry. What do I do? Lord, I'm sorry. It was an accident. What do I do?'" Kearney said.
Biggs, 37, a former bricklayer who had been living in a homeless shelter, was found dead the next day, his body dumped in a park.
Congratulations to Ms. Mallard, for once again proving that ignoring a problem will NOT make it go away. For her punishment, might I suggest that she be hoisted on her own petard? The death penalty would, frankly, be the easy way out for this inDUHvidual.
PS- being the artistically challenged sort that I am, I'm not sure that I could come up with a logo or a button that would do justice to this soon-to-be prestigious award. If anyone would care to care to contribute the artwork, I would be forever in your debt. Muchas gracias a todos!
