Gregory Biggs
Chante Mallard
Chante Mallard (left) is accused of striking
Gregory Biggs with her car and leaving him
to die in the windshield.
Posted on 06/24/2003 3:32:22 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Forensic scientist takes stand in windshield death case06/24/2003
FORT WORTH - Fort Worth forensic scientist Max Courtney said Gregory Biggs, the man who Chante Mallard is accused of striking and killing with her car, likely spit blood while hanging inside her vehicle, suggesting he was alive after initial impact.
Mr. Biggs' hand also gripped a map holder within Ms. Mallard's car door, Mr. Courtney testified Tuesday in Ms. Mallard's murder trial in Fort Worth district court.
Ms. Mallard is accused of hitting Mr. Biggs with her car in October 2001, driving home with him entangled in her windshield and leaving him to die on the car in her garage, police say.
Mr. Courtney, while not explicitly testifying that Mr. Biggs was still alive in the hours after Ms. Mallard struck him, said bloodstain patterns within her car "come from a cough, or a gasp or a wheeze coming from the victim's mouth."
Ms. Mallard's defense team told the 12-member jury in opening arguments Monday that Ms. Mallard believed Mr. Biggs was dead when she fled her home, leaving the victim entangled in her windshield of her car.
Evidence will prove that Mr. Biggs was dead, defense attorney Jeffrey Kearney said.
During testimony Tuesday morning, defense attorney Reagan Wynn spend 1 1/2 hours quizzing Mr. Courtney on technical aspects of bloodstain patterns in Ms. Mallard's 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier.
Earlier, prosecutors displayed bloodied sections of Ms. Mallard's car, including its door, armrest console and seat belt.
At one point, Judge James R. Wilson ordered the jury out of the courtroom when Mr. Wynn probed Mr. Courtney's credentials and biases as the first expert witness called by the prosecution. The judge overruled defense objections to the forsenic scientist's testimony.
Ms. Mallard looked straight ahead or down at the table in front of her during most of the three-hour-long morning session, never looking at the witness stand, the judge or the pieces of her car.
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/062403dnmetmallard2.23adc543.html
Gregory Biggs
Chante Mallard
Chante Mallard (left) is accused of striking
Gregory Biggs with her car and leaving him
to die in the windshield.
Forensic scientist takes stand in windshield death case
Excerpt:
FORT WORTH - Fort Worth forensic scientist Max Courtney said Gregory Biggs, the man who Chante Mallard is accused of striking and killing with her car, likely spit blood while hanging inside her vehicle, suggesting he was alive after initial impact.
Mr. Biggs' hand also gripped a map holder within Ms. Mallard's car door, Mr. Courtney testified Tuesday in Ms. Mallard's murder trial in Fort Worth district court.
Ms. Mallard is accused of hitting Mr. Biggs with her car in October 2001, driving home with him entangled in her windshield and leaving him to die on the car in her garage, police say.
Mr. Courtney, while not explicitly testifying that Mr. Biggs was still alive in the hours after Ms. Mallard struck him, said bloodstain patterns within her car "come from a cough, or a gasp or a wheeze coming from the victim's mouth."
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Chante Mallard Murder Trial ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Here is the thread history so far:
06-23-2003
Trial begins in death-by-windshield case
06-22-2003
Windshield case: Was it murder?
(Chante Mallard Murder Trial)06-18-2003
Windshield case attracts spotlight -
Mallard trial focuses natl media, legal eye on FW courts again
03-07-2002:
Man Lives 2 Days Stuck In Broken Windshield
(THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE - The woman should be SHOT!)
03-07-2002:
Police: Hit-Run Victim Lived Two Days Trapped in Windshield of Woman's Car
03-07-2002:
Texas Woman Charged With Allowing Hit-and-Run Victim to Die in Broken Windshield
03-07-2002:
Hit-and-run victim lodged in windshield for days
03-08-2002:
Woman accused of hitting man, leaving him to die on windshield
[Lawyer says case "overblown"]
03-08-2002:
Update on Man in Windshield story-
Woman had sex while man was dying in garage, "A mistake" she says
03-08-2002:
Police: Hit-run victim left to die in car windshield
03-09-2002:
Windshield death suspect back in jail - Bail raised to $250,000 -
Informant Receives Death Threats
03-13-2002:
Man died in hours, doctor says -
Windshield Hit & Run Murder Charge Stands - Suspect Still in Jail
03-15-2002:
Son sues suspect in windshield fatality -
Murder Suspect Still in Jail
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,90253,00.html
Expert Testifies Man Who Died in
Windshield Was Alive After ImpactTuesday, June 24, 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas — Blood spatters inside a woman's car indicate that a homeless man was still alive and possibly gasping after he was struck and became lodged in the shattered windshield, a forensic expert testified Tuesday.
Another witness in Chante Jawan Mallard (search)'s murder trial said basic emergency care could have saved Gregory Biggs' life if he had gotten help quickly.
In the trial's second day, jurors saw a bloodstained seat, interior door panel and center console from Mallard's car, which hit Biggs as he walked along a highway near her house on Oct. 26, 2001.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys say Mallard smoked pot, took Ecstasy and drank heavily in the hours before she hit Biggs and then parked the car in her garage without calling for help. The defense says Biggs' death was an accident, not murder.
Prosecutor Christy Jack says Mallard could have sought help for Biggs at a fire or police station or called an ambulance.
Mallard, 27, faces life in prison if convicted of killing Biggs, 37, whose body was found the next day in a park. She has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence (search), which could bring a sentence of up to 10 years.
Max Courtney, lab director of Forensic Consultant Services (search), testified Tuesday that he found small blood drops in the compartment between the car's two front seats.
"If I have blood in my mouth and I cough or wheeze forcefully, I could produce such a bloodstain," Courtney said.
A pool of blood in the passenger door pocket indicates Biggs' bleeding hand was inside it, and other bloodstains had been smeared, he said.
Hair found in the passenger seat belt buckle was from a Caucasian, Courtney said. Biggs was white; Mallard is black.
Fort Worth fire Capt. Jim Sawder testified that Biggs' best chance of survival was within 25 minutes of when he was hit.
"My opinion is that there is not a member of the Fort Worth Fire Department that could not have saved Mr. Biggs' life with basic life support care," Sawder said.
Mallard's friend, Clete Jackson, and his cousin, Herbert Tyrone Cleveland, pleaded guilty last year to dumping Biggs' body. Jackson was sentenced to 10 years for tampering with evidence and Cleveland got nine years. As part of plea bargains, they agreed to testify at Mallard's trial.
AP Chante Jawan Mallard
Oh, yeah? Then why did she keep going back into the garage to apologize to him for hours on end, like she told the police in her statement.
Besides, as soon as her friend "T" got there, SHE knew he was alive and told Ms. Mallard that.
And here's a news flash: when the two guys that have already been convicted testify, you're going to hear that Chante was with them EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
She deserves death, but I sure hope she gets full life.
What an ugly case. Unbelievable!!
I'm not surprised. This is an ugly, UGLY story.
Man ... I couldn't even do that to Charlie in VietNam. And I hated him.
. . . This "he was already dead when she went home"isn't going to sell.It makes one wonder what planet the defense lawyers came from.
I guess they really DON'T have anything to defend with really. Their client is their worse liability.
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