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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Richard Alpert, Jeff Kearney

Aired June 28, 2003 - 08:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Texas and a grizzly murder case that has put the killer behind bars for half a century. The media is calling it the windshield death trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Verdict form as to count one, we the jury, having found the defendant, Chante Jawan Mallard, guilty of the offense of murder, assess her punishment at confinement in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a period of 50 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Chante Mallard struck 37-year-old Greg Biggs with her car then drove home and left him to die impaled in her windshield. Later, she and a cousin dumped the body in a park. Mallard admitted in court she was high on marijuana, Ecstasy and alcohol when her car slammed into Biggs.

Joining us live now from the courthouse in Fort Worth are the opposing attorneys in this case, prosecutor Richard Alpert and defense attorney Jeff Kearney.

Thank you gentlemen for being here with us this morning.

We appreciate it very much.

It was such a long day for you yesterday.

I'm wondering, from the both of you, and, Richard, I'd like to start with you, do you think the sentence was fair?

RICHARD ALPERT, PROSECUTOR: I think it was very fair based upon the facts and the evidence the jury heard.

COLLINS: And, Jeff?

JEFF KEARNEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, obviously, you know, we were prepared for a lengthy prison sentence. We expected that all along. We had just hoped that the jury would give her a sentence that would allow her at some point to return to society and have some kind of meaningful life.

COLLINS: Jeff, do you see anything now that you could have done differently in the case in looking back on it? KEARNEY: Well, I mean obviously we should have done something differently. But I've not been able to find it. We spent a great deal of time on this case, put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, consulted with all kinds of experts and I mean I think we did everything we could do. This was just a case where the jury was not ready to, you know, accept her conduct and certainly punished her severely for it.

COLLINS: Well, as you mentioned just a moment ago, some people, I'm sure, think that Chante Mallard is the kind of criminal who could be reformed. What do you think of that?

KEARNEY: Oh, I think definitely she was. We offered numerous evidence and I mean the witnesses in punishment phase of the case to show that she did have strong community support. She did have the ability to come back out and have a meaningful life and a productive member of society. But clearly we understood that she had to be punished.

COLLINS: And, Richard, what are your thoughts on that now that the trial is done and what you saw in the courtroom?

ALPERT: Well, as to the ability to reform her, I think that some crimes are just so severe and so outrageous that the idea of someone getting a chance to be rehabilitated is not going to occur to a jury. Again, starting the case, we didn't know if the jury would agree with our theory. We knew we were going to have a tough fight and obviously we're very pleased that the work we put into the case paid off and that the jury accepted our message. And we think justice was done.

COLLINS: How much do you think the fact that Chante Mallard and her cousin dumped the body and then tried to conceal other evidence, as well, in this case, how much of an impact did that have on the sentence?

ALPERT: I think it had something to do with the sentence, because it kind of fit into the message that we tried to give the jury that she almost got away with this. But I think more damaging was just the way her life kind of went back to normal a week later, that she's going back to the same club, she's got a new boyfriend. I, to me, that was very shocking and that's what she did. And so there really wasn't very much that could be done to stop the jury from hearing that.

COLLINS: You know, there was just extremely compelling testimony from Greg Biggs' son, Brandon. We would have to talk about that. What sort of an impact did he have on that jury? Jeff?

KEARNEY: Oh, his testimony was compelling. He's a wonderful young man. He came across as someone who was really compassionate, but also someone who had suffered a severe loss and his testimony was compelling. The entire jury was crying during his testimony.

COLLINS: Final thoughts from both of you. Richard Alpert, what was this case about? ALPERT: I think this case was about a terrible fact pattern and trying to see if it would fit in our justice system, trying to give a jury a range of punishment where they could feel that justice was done. It, again, I don't know if I'm going to see a case like this again, but I think the fit was there. And, again, we're very pleased with the verdict.

COLLINS: Jeff Kearney?

KEARNEY: Yes, you know, I think this case was about a person who had been, you know, had a whole lot of good in her that did something really horrible. And from the jury's standpoint, I think they probably recognized that. But I think that her conduct immediately after the accident and for several months thereafter was so compelling to the jury they just couldn't get over it.

COLLINS: To the both of you this morning, Richard Alpert, the prosecutor, and Jeff Kearney, the defense attorney for Chante Mallard, thank you so much for your insights.

ALPERT: Thank you.

KEARNEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 28, 2003 - 08:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Texas and a grizzly murder case that has put the killer behind bars for half a century. The media is calling it the windshield death trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Verdict form as to count one, we the jury, having found the defendant, Chante Jawan Mallard, guilty of the offense of murder, assess her punishment at confinement in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a period of 50 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Chante Mallard struck 37-year-old Greg Biggs with her car then drove home and left him to die impaled in her windshield. Later, she and a cousin dumped the body in a park. Mallard admitted in court she was high on marijuana, Ecstasy and alcohol when her car slammed into Biggs.

Joining us live now from the courthouse in Fort Worth are the opposing attorneys in this case, prosecutor Richard Alpert and defense attorney Jeff Kearney.

Thank you gentlemen for being here with us this morning.

We appreciate it very much.

It was such a long day for you yesterday.

I'm wondering, from the both of you, and, Richard, I'd like to start with you, do you think the sentence was fair?

RICHARD ALPERT, PROSECUTOR: I think it was very fair based upon the facts and the evidence the jury heard.

COLLINS: And, Jeff?

JEFF KEARNEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, obviously, you know, we were prepared for a lengthy prison sentence. We expected that all along. We had just hoped that the jury would give her a sentence that would allow her at some point to return to society and have some kind of meaningful life.

COLLINS: Jeff, do you see anything now that you could have done differently in the case in looking back on it? KEARNEY: Well, I mean obviously we should have done something differently. But I've not been able to find it. We spent a great deal of time on this case, put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, consulted with all kinds of experts and I mean I think we did everything we could do. This was just a case where the jury was not ready to, you know, accept her conduct and certainly punished her severely for it.

COLLINS: Well, as you mentioned just a moment ago, some people, I'm sure, think that Chante Mallard is the kind of criminal who could be reformed. What do you think of that?

KEARNEY: Oh, I think definitely she was. We offered numerous evidence and I mean the witnesses in punishment phase of the case to show that she did have strong community support. She did have the ability to come back out and have a meaningful life and a productive member of society. But clearly we understood that she had to be punished.

COLLINS: And, Richard, what are your thoughts on that now that the trial is done and what you saw in the courtroom?

ALPERT: Well, as to the ability to reform her, I think that some crimes are just so severe and so outrageous that the idea of someone getting a chance to be rehabilitated is not going to occur to a jury. Again, starting the case, we didn't know if the jury would agree with our theory. We knew we were going to have a tough fight and obviously we're very pleased that the work we put into the case paid off and that the jury accepted our message. And we think justice was done.

COLLINS: How much do you think the fact that Chante Mallard and her cousin dumped the body and then tried to conceal other evidence, as well, in this case, how much of an impact did that have on the sentence?

ALPERT: I think it had something to do with the sentence, because it kind of fit into the message that we tried to give the jury that she almost got away with this. But I think more damaging was just the way her life kind of went back to normal a week later, that she's going back to the same club, she's got a new boyfriend. I, to me, that was very shocking and that's what she did. And so there really wasn't very much that could be done to stop the jury from hearing that.

COLLINS: You know, there was just extremely compelling testimony from Greg Biggs' son, Brandon. We would have to talk about that. What sort of an impact did he have on that jury? Jeff?

KEARNEY: Oh, his testimony was compelling. He's a wonderful young man. He came across as someone who was really compassionate, but also someone who had suffered a severe loss and his testimony was compelling. The entire jury was crying during his testimony.

COLLINS: Final thoughts from both of you. Richard Alpert, what was this case about? ALPERT: I think this case was about a terrible fact pattern and trying to see if it would fit in our justice system, trying to give a jury a range of punishment where they could feel that justice was done. It, again, I don't know if I'm going to see a case like this again, but I think the fit was there. And, again, we're very pleased with the verdict.

COLLINS: Jeff Kearney?

KEARNEY: Yes, you know, I think this case was about a person who had been, you know, had a whole lot of good in her that did something really horrible. And from the jury's standpoint, I think they probably recognized that. But I think that her conduct immediately after the accident and for several months thereafter was so compelling to the jury they just couldn't get over it.

COLLINS: To the both of you this morning, Richard Alpert, the prosecutor, and Jeff Kearney, the defense attorney for Chante Mallard, thank you so much for your insights.

ALPERT: Thank you.

KEARNEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com