Hodges
Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday in Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla's courtroom in a woman's case against a teenage driver who struck her as she crossed a highway in Glen Carbon.
Marilynn Dixon is seeking more than $50,000 after being hit on Route 159 near the intersection of Dogwood Estate by William Maggart's northbound vehicle.
Plaintiff's attorney Keith Short first described the trial as a "case of a 19-year-old man driving his pickup truck into a 60-year-old woman."
Short told the jury his client's head split open, and she fell to the ground after impact.
"She was that close to getting killed," Short said. "She ended up with a two-inch scar across her forehead."
"There was a young man who decided he was going to pull out without looking," Short added. "You might hear him say the sun was in his eyes. The evidence will show he wasn't looking."
Dixon claims she suffered injuries to her knees, experienced pain, suffering and incurred medical costs.
"She is going to live with these damages for the rest of her life," Short said.
Defense attorney James Hodges told the jury Maggart did look to the left and to the right before crossing the highway.
"There's no reason for a pedestrian to be in the middle of the highway at 7 a.m.," he said. "He (Maggart) was where he was supposed to be."
Hodges told the jury that Dixon, who was crossing the highway with her friend, was taking a shortcut, so they did not have to walk all the way to the crosswalk.
Maggart, of Granite City, was driving down a residential road on his way to Edwardsville High School, where he was a student.
Hodges argues that Dixon's negligence caused her injuries, that she failed to use a crosswalk; started crossing the highway but stopped without completely crossing the street when it was unsafe to cross the street; that she stood in a lane reserved for vehicles; and that she failed to yield.
Paul Cates, a Glen Carbon police officer who responded to the scene, testified that he saw two women in the center turn lane with minor injuries.
The case is Madison Case number 09-L-799.