Judge denies Janet Hinds’ appeal
Janet Hinds, the woman convicted in the 2019 hit-and-run death of Chattanooga police officer Nicholas Galinger, has had her request for a new trial denied.
“The evidence presented at trial is sufficient to support her convictions,” the Aug. 11 opinion by a Knoxville panel of justices said. “We agree with the state.”
In September 2021 — after a 15-hour jury deliberation — a jury found Hinds guilty of vehicular homicide by intoxication in the 2019 death of the 38-year-old rookie cop, Galinger.
Hinds struck Galinger with her car on Feb. 23, 2019, while he was inspecting a maintenance hole cover that dislodged due to excessive rain at the 2900 block of Hamill Road just after 11 p.m. Hinds fled the scene, and her attorneys claimed she thought she had hit a road sign positioned over the maintenance hole.
Hinds’ appeal was contesting several factors from the trial, including the evidence supporting the allegations of DUI, according to the opinion.
“The evidence presented at trial, when viewed in the light most favorable to the state, established that the defendant drank approximately 76 ounces of beer and one shot of alcohol during the four hours prior to the crash,” the opinion from the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeal said.
The opinion said Hinds’ speed while driving and her failure to realize that she struck a person were indications of impairment.
“The defendant’s driving, which included excessive speeding, failing to maintain her lane, and straddling the center lane, demonstrated impairment,” the opinion said.
“She struck the victim with such force that the victim rolled on top of her hood and his head struck the windshield, causing webbing and shattering of areas of the windshield,” the opinion said. “Although shattered glass was on the defendant’s shirt and throughout the front interior of her vehicle and some of the victim’s body tissue was near the steering wheel, the defendant did not stop but continued driving home.”
The opinion summarized the testimonies of all of the witnesses, including Chattanooga police officer Joe Warren with the traffic division of the department.
During his testimony, Warren, who was accepted by the court as an accident reconstruction expert, “determined that the victim was standing four feet from the manhole cover when he was struck by the defendant’s vehicle and that he was thrown approximately 160 feet,” according to the opinion, which added, “He (Warren) noted the victim’s left boot was collected at the scene and that the right boot remained on the victim’s foot.”
Hinds was also arguing that her 11-year-sentence was excessive and that the court had abused its power as it implied such a harsh sentence upon Hinds, who had no prior record, according to the opinion.
“During the sentencing hearing, the defendant argued that the circumstances of the crash were ‘highly unusual’ and that ‘the risk of the outcome was, statistically speaking, relatively small’,” the opinion said.
“In our view, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing this within-range sentence after thorough consideration of the purposes and principles of sentencing,” the opinion said.