Chante Jawan Mallard acknowledges hitting Gregory Biggs with her car, driving home with him stuck in her windshield, and leaving Biggs stuck there as he slowly died in 2001.

On Monday, in the opening of her murder trial for Biggs' death, the former nurse's aide also admitted that she tampered with evidence, which could get Mallard between two and 10 years behind bars, and up to a $10,000 fine.

The guilty plea Monday morning removed one of the charges Mallard is facing, but the murder charge is the focus in this Tarrant County, Texas, trial. 

Chante Mallard, seen during an earlier court appearance.

Mallard hit Biggs, 37, with her gold, 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 26, 2001. Her lawyer has argued that she is guilty only of failing to seek help—not murder.

If convicted, Mallard could face life in prison.

According to prosecutor Christy Jack, what was "almost the perfect crime" began with a booze- and drug-fueled night of carousing for the 27-year-old defendant.

Mallard indulged in Ecstasy, marijuana joints, and 69-cent well drink specials at a local club, Joe's Big Bamboo, Jack said in her opening statement.

But Mallard's lawyer, Jeff Kearney, seemed to offer his client's inebriation as support for her bewildering actions.

"She was hysterical, terrorized and confused," said her lawyer during his own opening statement.

After hitting Biggs on a highway, Mallard pulled over in an industrial area and tried to remove the one-time bricklayer from the car. 

It was, said the prosecutor, the first of many defining moments that night. With payphones and a fire station only a half mile away, Mallard instead drove home with Biggs stuck in her windshield, his broken legs protruding from the glass, and his head and shoulders lodged inside the car, "moaning every time they hit a bump," Jack said.

The area of Fort Worth's Cobb Park where Gregory Biggs' body was found

Mallard's avuncular attorney, Kearney, cocked his head, leaned against a table facing the jury box, and clasped his hands before recasting the "nightmare" from his client's point of view.

"It was dark night, and to many it became the darkest night of all. It was late, it was real late...  She was in an altered state," said the attorney, who often returned to his client's Ecstasy-taking during his opening statement.

"Suddenly, with words that no one could possibly describe, a body is there. Glass is shattering. Slivers of glass are flying. Glass is flying into her face, into her car, into her skin. No one can describe that feeling."

Mallard returned home and left Biggs, whose left leg was nearly severed in the collision, lodged in her windshield in the garage. She told police she had apologized to him, but never called for help.

"She finally did make a call and it was a call for help, but the help wasn't for him," said the prosecutor. "It was for her."

Prosecutors say Mallard solicited the help of Clete Deneal Jackson and Herbert Tyrone Cleveland to dump the body in a nearby park. Both Jackson, who received a 10-year sentence for tampering with evidence, and Cleveland, who received a 9-year sentence, have pleaded guilty and are expected to testify against Mallard.

Todd Grenloff, an off-duty Fort Worth fireman, found Biggs' body in a local park on Oct. 27, 2001.  "We have a body here," said Grenloff in a 911 tape that was played in court Monday.

Grenloff told the 911 operator that Biggs had been beaten.

Graphic photos of Biggs' contorted. bloody and nearly nude body were shown to the jury. One juror appeared to cry after seeing the disturbing images. 

"The picture wasn't right and the pieces didn't fit," said the prosecutor in her opening statement. "The body had been dumped. And no one saw a thing."

To Mallard's lawyer, "that doesn't amount to murder ... She didn't want her parents to learn what she had done, and she didn't want to go to jail."

Court TV is broadcasting Mallard's trial live.