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Arlington woman charged with murder in fatal I-35W accident

Posted on Nov 30, 2011

FORT WORTH — An Arlington woman who police say caused a fatal accident as she drove the wrong way on a Fort Worth freeway had a blood alcohol level of 0.24, three times the legal limit, lab tests have revealed.

On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Brittany Dawn Burton, 25, with felony murder. If convicted of the first-degree felony, she faces five to 99 years or life in prison.

"As a consequence of her conduct, one person is dead and at least three others barely avoided being killed, one of them being her 6-month-old daughter," said Richard Alpert, an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County.

"We believe such conduct warrants our seeking the charge with the maximum available punishment range that is supported by the law and the facts. That charge is murder."

Under the Texas penal code, a person can be charged with murder if, while committing a felony, he or she performs an act that is "clearly dangerous to human life and causes the death of another person."

Alpert said Burton was committing a felony -- driving while intoxicated with a child in her vehicle -- when she drove a Jeep Liberty the wrong way in the southbound lanes of Interstate 35W late Friday. A police officer said he saw her heading into heavy traffic with her hands behind her head at one point.

One man was killed as vehicles swerved to avoid the Jeep near Rosedale Street.

Jeffery Hogan's pickup collided with a Honda Civic as both vehicles tried to avoid the Liberty, police said. The drivers got out to assess the damage before a van, which had also swerved, crashed into the Civic.

Hogan, 47, was struck and pronounced dead at the scene.

A Fort Worth police officer was eventually able to get Burton to stop. She was arrested and her 6-month-old daughter was turned over to the baby's father.

Burton remained in the Mansfield jail Wednesday awaiting transfer to the Tarrant County Jail.

Alpert said the investigation is continuing and that Burton could still face an additional charge of endangering a child.

Alpert said the case marks the first time, to his knowledge, that prosecutors have sought a felony murder charge against a defendant whose vehicle did not directly strike a vehicle or a victim in the fatal wreck.

"The fact that something's never been done before has never deterred us from seeking the proper charges in the past," he said.

In 2004, prosecutors won a murder conviction for a 25-year-old man who got drunk and drove the wrong way on Airport Freeway, colliding with a Chevy Tahoe and killing the father of twins.

It was the first time in Tarrant County that prosecutors tried and won a murder conviction in a DWI-related fatality.

Typically, a drunken driver who causes a death is charged with intoxication manslaughter, which carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. But, because Jake Strickland had two prior misdemeanor DWI convictions, prosecutors charged him with murder.

Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/30/3561190/arlington-woman-charged-with-murder.html#ixzz1fELSbnsI

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