Testimony ends in fatal 2015 drunk driving trial
UPDATE: John McClintock has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for the November 2015 death of Domonick Turner. Turner was killed in a fatal car accident while McClintock was being chased by police officers while driving drunk on the wrong side of I-35.
John McClintock embraced family and friends before testimony continued Thursday in his intoxication manslaughter trail. After a short prayer outside of the courtroom, McClintock went inside and took the stand. But his words offered no defense for the addiction he says brought him here.
His attorney asked what he would say to himself, almost two years ago, if he could.
"You're an idiot, and you never should have had a drink at all," said McClintock.
Mcclintock was in his car, November 11,2015 being chased by police as he drove up I-35 in the wrong lane.
He recently saw the video and described it as "horrifying."
He told the jury he doesn't remember how he got turned around or police trying to stop him.
In court, he admitted there is still a feeling of disbelief in seeing the chase. "Is it really me, behind the wheel, i cant even imagine what it would feel like to be an individual going down the interstate, normal night and all of a sudden seeing headlights coming at me in the other direction," said McClintock.
Lead prosecutor Sunni Mitchell during cross examination, made sure the jury remembered he almost hit 120 cars. "So on this day you made all of those choices, and you drove 14 miles the wrong way on I-35 and all those cars, every one of those people could have been killed,"said Mitchell.
McClintock agreed and also admitted he was drunk at the time, more than 3 times the legal limit.
Domonick Turner was unable to avoid the danger.
The veteran of 3 tours to Afghanistan was southbound on his motorcycle when McClintock crashed into him.
Most of the testimony by McClintock focused on how he used alcohol to compensate for a low self esteem. He spoke about being a loner obsessed with video games - and how recent counseling, by AA and a church group, has changed him.
To counter that, prosecutors played for the jury a jail house call McClintock had with family,
"I want this it to be taken care of as quickly as possible , i want out of here."
The clip appeared to be an attempt to show a lack of remorse by McClintock. "Killing someone wasn't enough for you to realize you should never drink again, at that point right," asked Mitchell.
To which McClinctock said, yes.
Domonick Turner's family sat quietly in the courtroom during the questioning and clearly struggled to contain their emotions. A promise by McClintock did nothing the ease the tension. "But it is the truth, at the end of the day, I will not have a single drink for the rest of my life because i killed Domonick Turner, and I will remember that every single day," said McClinctock.
Prosecutors countered by saying the promise to stay sober and to receive probation is no punishment.
It was a point McClintock did not deny.
Closing arguments are scheduled to takeplace Friday morning.