Texas Windshield Murder Trial Begins

by TresHappy 186 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

teenyuck

Realist, you keep forgetting:
#1. The US has the death penalty and Texas has the highest rate of *clearing out old cases*. Whether or not you agree with it.
#2. As TresHappy pointed out, no matter what everyone is saying, she is not being tried for capital murder which would be a death penalty case. She could get 30 years max. That means with good behaviour and becoming born again, she will be out in 10-15.
#3. Most people in the US say "Fry them", "Hang them", "Cook Them" and various other terms to indicate the level of justice a person feels an offender should receive. The offender very rarely receives the level of justice the general public would inflict. The laws don't allow for it.
These are common responses from people living in America who see a terrible crime and want the person responsible to feel the pain the victim must have. Though with lethal injection, it is like being put under for surgery.
No matter what your stance on the death penalty is, this is not a death penalty case.
Justice takes so long and is uneven here in America, that we take out our frustration with phrases like those. (at least that is my theory-that is what I do)
TresHappy

If she is found guilty of first-degree murder, the jury has a lot of choices in sentencing. If she did not have a prior record, she theoretically could be sentenced to probation. If she is convicted and given a life sentence, she would have to serve 30 calendar years before she could even be eligible for parole. Since she has plead guilty to tampering with evidence, she could get 2 - 10 years for that alone. Depending on the judge, she could serve whatever sentence she gets concurrently with the tampering conviction, or the judge could make her serve her sentences "stacked" - meaning she would have to serve one and then the other.
In my previous post, I said she ought to plead guilty to a lesser offense, like manslaughter. That's if the prosecution was offering a deal like that. Plea bargains always save the state money (no trial, no trial expenses.) I haven't heard of any plea deals going on here.
Previously, the term "life in prison" in Texas meant someone could be eligible for parole after as little as 15 years. It was then increased to 20 and now 30...however being eligible only means eligible. If someone if convicted of capital murder and they aren't given the death penalty, they must serve 40 calendar years before being eligible for parole.
Country Girl

Thanks for clearing that up, Tres. In Texas, when a crime is considered "violent" typical offenders must serve most of their sentence, unless there is a parole revocation, in which they must serve 100%. A man I knew beat his children with a belt that he left bruise marks under their diapers. He was put on ten years probation. He did drugs, was caught, and revoked. He consequently served out the full ten years of his term.
What really made me sick is seeing one of the four boys who raped and murdered (and are on death row) two young girls in Houston on that prison pen pal site, and saying he made one innocent mistake and would like to find a nice lady to fall in love with. Ugh! When I read the details on his case, I was just so sickened. But these people aren't on the Internet, I think they get a sponsor to put their snail mails on the Internet.
Country Girl
TresHappy

You're right Country Girl, these death row inmates aren't physically on the Internet. Some of the men have married their pen pals, many who live in Europe and visit several times a year. Death row inmates used to have a lot of "freedom," if you could say that. They were allowed to work in the prison factory, had time to go out on the grounds for exercise, mingle together...that all came to a halt in 1998 when that death row inmate broke out over the Thanksgiving break. He was later found dead (drowned) and more egg on the face of Texas prison officials. They transported all the death row inmates (men) to a new death row where they are locked in their cells 23 hours per day. TV went bye bye, and if the inmate is good, he may have a radio in his cell.
The women on death row in Texas are allowed to work (making prison pal dolls) and have more freedom than the men. The women on death row typically behave better.
What kills me is that one of those prison pal requests is Robert Neville. He and a friend abducted a former coworker on her way to work on her bike (she was mildly retarded - can you say that word these days). Poor girl was taken to a field and shot. The guys made their way to the Texas border and were caught. Then they got on television and descibed the crime to reporters...what horrible footage.
This young girl used to carry out my groceries on occasion. I still think about her whenever I drive by that grocery store.
freedom96

I was thinking about this yesterday while watching a bit of the trial. Should she be put to death for what she did?
My conclusion is yes. She allowed a man to suffer for days, when he could have lived. Why did she not do it? Stoned? Perhaps. Probably worried about losing her job when they found out she was a druggie.
The bottom line is, she hit a man, allowed him to suffer and die in her garage, without regard for his life. Yes, she did murder this man. Not by hitting him in the first place, but allowing him to die a horrible death.
They found evidence of the man grasping inside the car, struggling. She allowed him to die.
For that, she should die to. Some will argue to put her away for life, or many years. Why?? I would not want my tax dollars going to pay for her sorry ass in jail. Frigging worthless piece of shit.
Xena

she made a horrible mistake but that is certainly not worth killing her!

A horrible mistake? If she had hit the man with her car and called EMS...THEN it could be called a horrible mistake....but she didn't she in cold blood allowed that man to die...she killed him as good as if she had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger...actually that would have been a lot more humane of her.
A horrible mistake? uuumm NO....a cold blooded killer who deserves the same consideration she dished out to that man? YES
Realist

hello Xena,
as far as i understand the testimony the woman hit the guy. than she panicked and drove home instead of going to the police or calling an ambulance. when her friend arrived the guy was lying dead in the garage.
i don't know how much maliciousness can be insinuated here.
in any case...imo people who do wrong should be treated and not necessarily punished.
teenyuck

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A man struck by a car and wedged in a windshield would have survived with prompt medical care, a doctor testified on Tuesday in the murder trial of a nurse's aide accused of hitting a homeless man with her automobile and leaving him until he bled to death.

Prosecutors say she left Biggs to slowly die in her darkened garage while she plotted with friends for over a day on how to dispose of the body.

James Sowder, a paramedic and captain in the Ft. Worth Fire Department, said the injuries Biggs suffered would not have been life-threatening had they been treated.

Raymond Swinton, an emergency room doctor, said Biggs suffered a broken arm, two fractures of his right leg and the near amputation of his left leg beneath his knee. Swinton said he believed Biggs would have had an excellent chance of survival if he had been treated within 30 minutes to 90 minutes of being hit by the car.

If convicted of murder, Mallard could get five to 99 years in prison, or a life sentence, which in Texas is at least 40 years without parole.

i don't know how much maliciousness can be insinuated here.

in any case...imo people who do wrong should be treated and not necessarily punished.

Did you remove your brain today? How can you say some total, complete piece of dirt like her deserves my taxpayer dollar to pay for treatment?!!!
She was a nurse's assisant high on drugs. She is worse than pond scum. She left the man to die in her garage. She is a wretched human being. Reading this makes me ill.
I don't care what she was on. She is responsible. Unfortunately, she will not be put to death for this crime.
The medical examiner said his injuries were made even worse by her driving with him wedged in her windshield. Do you understand that? His head and torso were inside her car, the remaining parts of his body on the hood. And she kept driving.
You make liberals look bad. Even Billary Clinton would say she deserves whatever justice hands out. And that won't be enough.
Cassiline

as far as i understand the testimony the woman hit the guy. than she panicked and drove home instead of going to the police or calling an ambulance. when her friend arrived the guy was lying dead in the garage.

Realist
When reading the artical posted here in this thread she waited about 20 hours before going back to the garage and finding the man dead and ALSO refused to call 911 when her friend first arrived to pick her up at her behest, a few hours after she hit the man.
Her friends also testify that they used a garden rake to see if he was indeed dead when they returned the next day approx 20 hours after the accident. I can't imagine knowing for all those hours a man may be suffering, in horrible pain with legs broken in several places, if not killed instantly most likely gasping for breath begging for help, and not doing a damn thing.
This was sick and after the initial panic as you call it, it becomes murder with intent-- a long excruciating death.
I don't see how this can not be seen as malicious.
blacksheep

Hey, maybe like Christian Longo, this woman *may* have been associated with the JWs in her earlier life: maybe it could have influenced her decisions; she was afraid of disappointing the congregation, her families, the elders...
NOT! I seem to recall a few people who actually had a bit more sympathy for Longo, who was convicted of murdering his entire family, than they have for this woman here. (Not everyone, by any means)... I was apalled at Longo's crimes and his attempt to try to blame others for his reprehensible acts, in killing his own family members. I'm shocked at this woman's horribly poor judgment and disgregard for human life, but I still don't see it on the same plane as someone who knowingly murders his children. *I* couldn't believe people even THOUGHT his "upbringing" as a JW would lead him to the horrible acts he committed. I do think the woman panicked; I do think she feared the consquences and tried to just make it go away (wrong, wrong, wrong). I'm not sure I call that "intential" murder...but then I'm not on the jury.
It seems to me we're more compassionate and give greater benefits of the doubt to people who murder their own children (i.e. Longo, Yates) than we are toward someone who made incredibly poor choices. JMO.

Texas Windshield Murder Trial Begins

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