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Ed Lavandera: Crime scene photos tough for jurors
FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- In a gruesome trial that began this week in Fort Worth,Texas, Chante Jawan Mallard is accused of hitting homeless man Gregory Biggs with her car, then leaving him stuck on her windshield to bleed to death in her garage. CNN Correspondent Ed Lavandera spoke Tuesday night with Paula Zahn on "Live From the Headlines" about the latest testimony and the reaction in the courtroom. LAVANDERA: It was quite an ending to the day of testimony [with an appearance by] Chante Mallard's boyfriend, Clete Jackson, who has already pleaded guilty for his involvement in this case, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence. He has admitted to moving the body of 37-year-old Greg Biggs, who was hit by Chante Mallard, and dumping the body in a nearby park so it could be found. He is serving 10 years in prison for, as I mentioned, pleading guilty to tampering with evidence, and that's what brought him to the courthouse here in Fort Worth [on Tuesday]. Also just before the jury had heard from Clete Jackson, they also had been shown parts of the car as evidence as to where exactly Greg Biggs had landed in the car and where blood had splattered all over the inside of the car as well. But Jackson talked about how he had seen Mallard at a nightclub here in the Fort Worth area the night the accident happened and that she didn't appear normal, that as her defense attorneys had pointed out, she had been drinking, was high, had taken Ecstasy and had been smoking marijuana, and Jackson said that she looked very strange. Also saying that after she had left the club and after hitting Biggs that she had called him some 20 times saying that she needed his help with something very important, but Mallard couldn't bring herself to tell him. ... Even as she was dragging Jackson into the garage to show him the car, he still had no idea what he was about to see. ... One of the things the defense attorneys for Chante Mallard have been trying to do is to paint her as someone who became extremely hysterical given the condition she was in after having spent the night drinking and doing drugs and that she became more hysterical and being very scared of what was going to happen next. Clete Jackson talked a lot about that, essentially saying that everyone just lost their minds. Clete Jackson says that he tried to put the body in a place where it could be found so that his family could find the body and be able to bury him. But Clete Jackson also says the next day, when he spoke with Chante Mallard, that she talked about killing herself. But one thing the prosecutors would probably point to is that through all of this testimony, you didn't hear a lot of talk about anyone, anyone who was with Chante Mallard that night, talking about calling the police or calling 911 for help. ZAHN: And isn't that a point that you think was made pretty powerfully [Tuesday] by the prosecution, that there were a number of opportunities that this young woman had to seek help for this man? LAVANDERA: Absolutely. You know, one of the interesting things that has come out -- they do remind people she is a former nurse's aide, and one of the things that came out in testimony [Tuesday] is that her brother is actually a firefighter with the Forth Worth Fire Department. So almost a suggestion out there that she more than anyone perhaps should have at least known what to do in this situation. We have also heard from medical experts saying that if anyone had called 911 much earlier, after that accident had happened, that Greg Biggs would have been saved, that the injuries that he suffered in the impact would not have killed him. What killed him is when he bled to death sitting in Chante Mallard's garage. ZAHN: Finally, before I go, Ed, just a real quick thought on how jurors seem to be reacting to this really awful testimony? LAVANDERA: The most powerful stuff obviously are the pictures of the crime scene and that sort of thing. On several occasions we know the jurors have kind of turned away from seeing those pictures. So obviously, those are the most impactful moments for this jury.
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