ILoveMyAbbyGirl
06-27-2003, 08:22 PM
What do you think?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1939050.jpg
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 27 — A jury sentenced Chante Mallard to 50 years in prison Friday for allowing a man she struck with her car to die a slow death while lodged in the car’s broken windshield.
MALLARD, 27, a former nurse’s aide, had faced a sentence of up to life in prison in the death of Gregory Biggs after the jury took less than an hour to convict her of murder Thursday.
Jurors also sentenced Mallard to the maximum 10 years for her guilty plea to tampering with evidence. The sentences will run concurrently.
Tears streamed down Mallard’s cheeks as the sentences were read.
“There’s no winners in a case like this. Just as we all lost Greg, you all will be losing your daughter,” Biggs’ son, Brandon, told Mallard’s family in a statement he read in court after the sentence was announced.
Both families declined to comment afterward. “My heart is heavy, truly heavy,” said Norma Caruthers, a friend who counseled Mallard in jail.
Defense attorney Jeff Kearney said he was upset with the length of the sentence, which was announced after jurors deliberated about two hours.
“We certainly knew it would be a significant prison sentence based on all the evidence, but we were hoping it would be somewhat lighter,” he said.
DRINKING AND DRUGS
Mallard hit Biggs on a highway after a night of drinking and using drugs, then drove home with him lodged in her windshield and left him to die in her garage. She tearfully told the jury Thursday that she was sorry and that she did not call for help because she was scared and did not know what to do.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert told the jury that Mallard deserved a life sentence. He said her explanation “is all about selfishness.”
“Some people lack the moral fiber to do the right thing,” he said. “A man is laying in her car moaning and bleeding and she needs someone to tell her what to do? Any decent person would call for help.”
Mallard’s attorney, Jeff Kearney, argued that “throwing another life away accomplishes nothing.”
“Please don’t throw this life away,” he told jurors.
On the stand Friday, toxicologist Gary Wimbish testified that the Ecstasy that Mallard consumed along with alcohol that night would impair a person’s ability to respond rationally to an emergency.
Biggs’ son also testified, saying his father, a former bricklayer, will now never share the milestones in his life.
“He’ll not be here to see me get married. He’ll not be here to watch me grow old and launch out into a profession,” a composed Brandon Biggs told the jury.
MALLARD TELLS HER SIDE
As the sentencing phase opened Thursday, Mallard took the stand and for the first time publicly described what happened.
She said she did not remember seeing Biggs along the road as she drove home about 3 a.m. Oct. 26, 2001. She heard a loud thud, she said, and then his body crashed through the windshield, sending glass flying into her face.
Biggs’ head and torso hung over her dashboard through the broken windshield. Mallard said she got out of her car and touched his leg, sticking out through the broken glass, then got back in and drove home and parked in her garage.
She said she heard the man moan and knew he was alive, but she never called for help. She was too afraid she’d be arrested and because of the drugs she “couldn’t think to do the right thing,” she said.
“I was asking God to tell me what to do,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was scared and I was crying.”
Medical experts testified during her trial that Biggs was probably alive for one to two hours after he was hit and that he probably would have survived he had gotten medical treatment.
“I have ruined the lives of other people,” Mallard said Thursday, sobbing as she apologized to Biggs’ 20-year-old son, Brandon Biggs, and to her own family. “I have put people through pain. And I am so truly sorry. I’m so sorry, Brandon. I am so sorry for what I have caused your family and I am sorry for the pain that I have put my family through.”
She said she deserved to go to prison but did not say for how long.
Biggs’ battered body was found in a park the day after he was hit. Mallard’s friend Clete Deneal Jackson testified that Mallard took him to her garage about six hours after she hit Biggs. He said he removed Biggs’ body that night and, with the help of his cousin Herbert Tyrone Cleveland dumped it in the park.
Both men pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and agreed to testify against Mallard as part of plea agreements. Jackson was sentenced to 10 years; Cleveland was sentenced to nine years.
Authorities had no leads in Biggs’ death until four months later, when one of Mallard’s acquaintances called police and said she talked about the incident at a party.
Officers went to Mallard’s house and found the bloodstained, dented car. They also found the passenger seat burned in the back yard.
Personally, I think this is utterly DISGUSTING. This woman should be given the death sentence. This is gross.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1939050.jpg
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 27 — A jury sentenced Chante Mallard to 50 years in prison Friday for allowing a man she struck with her car to die a slow death while lodged in the car’s broken windshield.
MALLARD, 27, a former nurse’s aide, had faced a sentence of up to life in prison in the death of Gregory Biggs after the jury took less than an hour to convict her of murder Thursday.
Jurors also sentenced Mallard to the maximum 10 years for her guilty plea to tampering with evidence. The sentences will run concurrently.
Tears streamed down Mallard’s cheeks as the sentences were read.
“There’s no winners in a case like this. Just as we all lost Greg, you all will be losing your daughter,” Biggs’ son, Brandon, told Mallard’s family in a statement he read in court after the sentence was announced.
Both families declined to comment afterward. “My heart is heavy, truly heavy,” said Norma Caruthers, a friend who counseled Mallard in jail.
Defense attorney Jeff Kearney said he was upset with the length of the sentence, which was announced after jurors deliberated about two hours.
“We certainly knew it would be a significant prison sentence based on all the evidence, but we were hoping it would be somewhat lighter,” he said.
DRINKING AND DRUGS
Mallard hit Biggs on a highway after a night of drinking and using drugs, then drove home with him lodged in her windshield and left him to die in her garage. She tearfully told the jury Thursday that she was sorry and that she did not call for help because she was scared and did not know what to do.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert told the jury that Mallard deserved a life sentence. He said her explanation “is all about selfishness.”
“Some people lack the moral fiber to do the right thing,” he said. “A man is laying in her car moaning and bleeding and she needs someone to tell her what to do? Any decent person would call for help.”
Mallard’s attorney, Jeff Kearney, argued that “throwing another life away accomplishes nothing.”
“Please don’t throw this life away,” he told jurors.
On the stand Friday, toxicologist Gary Wimbish testified that the Ecstasy that Mallard consumed along with alcohol that night would impair a person’s ability to respond rationally to an emergency.
Biggs’ son also testified, saying his father, a former bricklayer, will now never share the milestones in his life.
“He’ll not be here to see me get married. He’ll not be here to watch me grow old and launch out into a profession,” a composed Brandon Biggs told the jury.
MALLARD TELLS HER SIDE
As the sentencing phase opened Thursday, Mallard took the stand and for the first time publicly described what happened.
She said she did not remember seeing Biggs along the road as she drove home about 3 a.m. Oct. 26, 2001. She heard a loud thud, she said, and then his body crashed through the windshield, sending glass flying into her face.
Biggs’ head and torso hung over her dashboard through the broken windshield. Mallard said she got out of her car and touched his leg, sticking out through the broken glass, then got back in and drove home and parked in her garage.
She said she heard the man moan and knew he was alive, but she never called for help. She was too afraid she’d be arrested and because of the drugs she “couldn’t think to do the right thing,” she said.
“I was asking God to tell me what to do,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was scared and I was crying.”
Medical experts testified during her trial that Biggs was probably alive for one to two hours after he was hit and that he probably would have survived he had gotten medical treatment.
“I have ruined the lives of other people,” Mallard said Thursday, sobbing as she apologized to Biggs’ 20-year-old son, Brandon Biggs, and to her own family. “I have put people through pain. And I am so truly sorry. I’m so sorry, Brandon. I am so sorry for what I have caused your family and I am sorry for the pain that I have put my family through.”
She said she deserved to go to prison but did not say for how long.
Biggs’ battered body was found in a park the day after he was hit. Mallard’s friend Clete Deneal Jackson testified that Mallard took him to her garage about six hours after she hit Biggs. He said he removed Biggs’ body that night and, with the help of his cousin Herbert Tyrone Cleveland dumped it in the park.
Both men pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and agreed to testify against Mallard as part of plea agreements. Jackson was sentenced to 10 years; Cleveland was sentenced to nine years.
Authorities had no leads in Biggs’ death until four months later, when one of Mallard’s acquaintances called police and said she talked about the incident at a party.
Officers went to Mallard’s house and found the bloodstained, dented car. They also found the passenger seat burned in the back yard.
Personally, I think this is utterly DISGUSTING. This woman should be given the death sentence. This is gross.