Windshield death suspect back in jail
Posted on 03/09/2002 2:34:29 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Windshield death suspect back in jail
Bail raised to $250,000; FW woman taken into custody for third time
03/09/2002
FORT WORTH - A woman accused of hitting a man with her car and leaving him to die, entangled in her windshield, returned to jail Friday when a judge raised her bail from $10,000 to $250,000.
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Even if the bail is met, Ms. Mallard will spend the weekend in jail. Probation officers in charge of monitoring bond conditions cannot pick her up until Monday morning, said Lt. Mack West, jail supervisor.
Her bond conditions, which 371st District Judge James Wilson set during a hearing, include being under house arrest at her parents' Fort Worth home, wearing an electronic monitor, no driving, no alcohol use, and drug testing three times a week.
LAWRENCE JENKINS / DMN Dorothy Ballard (left) accompanies her daughter, Chante J. Mallard, to the court hearing in Fort Worth. |
Judge Wilson also placed a gag order on Ms. Mallard's lawyer and on prosecutors in the case. Her parents attended the hearing but declined to comment.
Ms. Mallard, a nurse's aide who was fired Thursday after the murder charge became public, sobbed in the courtroom and continually dabbed her eyes with a tissue before sheriff's deputies led her away.
During the hourlong hearing, defense attorney Mike Heiskell brought Ms. Mallard's parents and her brother, a lieutenant with the Fort Worth Fire Department, to testify about the former Girl Scout's willingness to attend future court proceedings.
"I guarantee you she's not going anywhere. She doesn't have anywhere to go and doesn't know where to go," Mr. Heiskell said, asking the judge to "look past the emotion and determine what is right and just."
But Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert argued that the $10,000 bond Ms. Mallard posted Wednesday was insufficient and that she has an unstable work history and sought counseling only after she was charged in Mr. Biggs' death.
"It's no secret the community is outraged by her actions," Mr. Alpert said. "This defendant has friends who helped her cover up the crime."
Police said Ms. Mallard struck Mr. Biggs in October as he walked along U.S. Highway 287 near the Loop 820 split, and then drove home with him entangled in her windshield.
Although he was severely injured, Mr. Biggs, a former school bus driver and bricklayer who was homeless at the time of the accident, was not dead, police said. Ms. Mallard left him trapped in her car, which she hid in the garage of her home on the south side of Fort Worth, investigators said.
Police said that Ms. Mallard repeatedly apologized to the injured man, checking on him several times over a two- or three-day period, but that she never summoned help. After Mr. Biggs died, Ms. Mallard and at least one friend dumped his body in a nearby park, where he was found Oct. 27, police said.
A woman came to police in February, saying Ms. Mallard admitted to the crime at a party, police said. Investigators questioned Ms. Mallard and arrested her Feb. 26 on a felony charge of failure to stop and render aid.
Mrs. Mallard posted a $5,000 bond that day, but she was arrested a second time after police upgraded the charge to murder Wednesday. She was released that day after posting a $10,000 bond.
A trial date has not been set.
Police said Friday that they are continuing to investigate the case and are looking for anyone else who may have helped dump Mr. Biggs' body.
E-mail ncalaway@dallasnews.com
Paging Alan Dershowitz, paging Alan Dershowitz!
I am giving them more credit then they probably deserve, but I think they knew what they were doing and took there chances that a dead homeless guy would go un-noticed and when found just thought he would be scooped up and forgotten.
Yes finding a dead homeless guy is not too uncommon in that area. There are several large homeless shelters not far north of there. What would raise a flag, even to our ME, would be the mechanism of injury. No matter how long the perps tried to clean this guy up, there would still be glass all in him.
When someone goes through a windshield you need to be very careful in extracating them because every time they move the glass will cut them more. First thing you need to do is break the rest of the glass away. I can just imagine this poor man maybe even tried to free himself only to have the glass cut him deeper and deeper.
I don't think Spielburg even thought of this for one of his horror movies.
Dude, this is Texas.
The very best she could hope for is to plea bargain it to manslaughter, but that would require the Tarrant County DA to be a braindead coward.
This story has been seen around the world, and there's more outrage against it than against Andrea Yates.
She doesn't stand a chance of walking.
I pray to God she doesn't.
I can tell you this. When I went to rookie school at the Fort Worth Fire Department. We rode out of station 5 which covers an area just north and east of where she lived. We were instructed prior to riding out that we would be in a world we were not familiar with. The instructors said you will hear gunshots. Watch yourself but do not be concerned with it unless everyone else takes off running. They live in the hood and are aware with what is going on. Around 0300 one morning, we were working a DWI accident. I heard a full mag go through a AK47 (rock and roll) and none of the 50 or so spectators even batted an eye.
Chante J. Mallard was charged with murder after a man hit by her car bled to death in her garage days later. (AP Photo)
Why aren't they indicting the car?
Also, remember the Wichita Horror-Nebraska Freepers keep us updated.
What are the Texas Criminal Code requirements to be able to apply the death penalty in this case versus life? I know it requires a 2nd crime and those are very specific and spelled out in the code. Do you think there is a chance for the Death Penalty?
How far before she becomes someone's hood trophy? She's dead meat if she cant get a new identity.
"There are two victims here," said her defense attorney. "I believe Ms. Mallard has suffered enough." NOW has already established a defense fund for Ms. Mallard, claiming that the defendant was simply acting out justifiable black road rage.
It's worse than that. She tried driving through a car was....with the guy still lodged in the windshield.
I can't imagine his agony, it makes me sick to my stomach. She's a CALLOUS MONSTER. Payback's a b*tch. If she don't get it here (which I feel she will), she's got Someone more important and eternal to deal with when she's dead. I hope her punishment is eternal agony, the exact kind of torture she dished out.
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