 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Top Stories: Texas Jury to Ponder Sentence in Windshield Murder">Archive of stories pre April 2007 | | | | | | | 
Archive of stories pre April 2007 | News submitted by: MIB
FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - Texas prosecutors and defense lawyers rested on Friday in the sentencing phase of the trial of a former nurse's aide found guilty of murder for letting a homeless man she had hit with her car bleed to death while wedged in the windshield.
Chante Mallard, 27, could face up to life in prison for killing Greg Biggs, 37 after a night of drug use and drinking. After striking Biggs, she plotted with friends on how to dispose of the body while the victim was lodged in the car in her darkened garage, suffering from wounds including a nearly amputated left leg.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday afternoon, and then the case is expected to go to the jury for a decision. The jury took less than an hour to decide to convict Mallard on Thursday.
After tearful testimony from Mallard during the punishment phase of her trial on Thursday -- in which she apologized for the crime and blamed it on illegal drug -- defense lawyers called a toxicologist on Friday who testified Mallard's drug use may have clouded her ability to make decisions in an emergency.
Dr. Gary Wimbish testified that at the time of the accident in October 2001, Mallard may have been intoxicated by marijuana, alcohol and the drug ecstasy. The combination of drugs, as well as her chronic use of marijuana, may have made it difficult for her to make appropriate decisions, he said.
Mallard had said on Thursday, after the jury returned its guilty verdict, that she was afraid of getting arrested after hitting Biggs. She testified the ecstasy, marijuana and alcohol she imbibed that night in October 2001 while out with friends addled her thoughts.
Prosecutors called only one witness, Brandon Biggs, 20, the son of the slain man, who said he dearly missed not having his father at his high school graduation or having him meet his girlfriend.
"It has been tough a lot of times, with Father's Day and what not," Biggs told the court.
Mallard drove home for nearly two miles with Biggs stuck in the windshield, his body hanging down into the car and his legs sprawled on the hood.
Medical experts said Biggs bled to death from the nearly amputated left leg. He also suffered a fractured arm and two fractures to his right leg, as well as numerous abrasions.
Biggs' mangled body was dumped in a park in Fort Worth about two days later. The homeless man was found naked from the waist down as he lay in a heap near a swing set
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3003392
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