TYLER, Texas — A Smith County jury found a Tyler man guilty Thursday afternoon of driving while intoxicated and causing a wreck that killed his girlfriend in September 2021.
Christopher Hardy Jr., 28, was convicted of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle in connection with the death of his passenger 20-year-old Tamyra Campbell.
The trial started Wednesday and is set in Judge Taylor Heaton's 475th District Court. After presenting evidence, both the state and defense rested their cases and delivered closing arguments Thursday.
Jurors took about 30 minutes to reach the verdict. The sentencing phase of the trial will start Friday morning.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 2021, police determined through an investigation that a black Dodge Charger driven by Hardy was traveling on Plantation Drive when it struck a parked vehicle at the intersection.
Campbell, of Tyler, was killed in the crash, while Hardy had minor injuries. Police gathered evidence showing Hardy was intoxicated when the crash happened.
On Thursday, Hardy testified on the stand he first met Campbell on Facebook and they later started dating.
Hardy testified that he and Campbell were hanging out and helping a friend on Sept. 23, 2021 and he had been drinking a lot of alcohol there. When they left, Campbell drove him back to her apartment in Tyler, and they stayed there for a while.
He went to get something more to drink around midnight at a gas station, but the purchase was denied. So they returned home and rested until about 3 a.m. when Campbell saw on their shared Facebook account that he had cheated on her, Hardy testified.
Hardy said they had been smoking marijuana as well. They went for a drive and she was angry with him and he remained quiet during the car ride.
He said he was driving fast, and just before the wreck Campbell turned the steering wheel right and he turned it to the left. He testified he only remembered waking up in the hospital and finding out Campbell died.
Hardy said he "absolutely" did not intend for this to happen.
He testified an altercation in the car caused the wreck, not his intoxication, as they were only a mile from their home. He claimed he did not entirely cause the crash himself.
Hardy testified while at the scene, he did not tell officers that Campbell grabbed the steering wheel.
He said that he does not remember what happened at all after the wreck. He added the handgun and Xanax bars found at the crash scene were not his. The homeowner previously testified those items were not in her yard before the crash.
Hardy testified he can't dispute that he was intoxicated and he had consumed Delta 9 THC.
He agreed that he previously called Smith County "racist" and this was a case of racial profiling. Hardy said what he stated about Campbell grabbing the wheel before the wreck is not supported by the crash data.
Hardy was the defense's only witness. The defense told the jury it rested soon after Hardy's testimony.
As a rebuttal witness, the state called an official to talk about the steering wheel report. The official said the report did not indicate a hard turn to the left, which was what Hardy claimed occurred.
For prosecution, Kendall Stump, a forensic scientist with the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, said her lab received a blood sample from Hardy after it initially was sent to the Tyler DPS lab.
Stump said she found Delta 9 THC, which is the active ingredient of marijuana, in confirmation testing. She also noted there was 11-hydroxy, the main active metabolite of THC.
Stump testified the report appears to show a medium amount of the drugs but it was a significant amount.
An official testified five seconds before the crash, the vehicle was moving 64 mph at the accelerator percentage was 100%. Three seconds before the crash, the speed was at 72 mph. At one-tenth of a second prior to the wreck, the vehicle was moving 73 mph, crash data shows.
Ryan Maynard testified that he worked at a gas station that sold alcohol and he denied Hardy an alcohol purchase hours before the wreck. He said that by the time Hardy reached the counter, it was midnight, which is a cutoff time for alcohol sales under the state law.
Maynard said he also would've denied Hardy the alcohol purchase based on the fact that Hardy was already intoxicated. He testified that he called into the Tyler Police Department to let investigators know about the denial of the sale.
A Tyler police detective testified that he and other officers made contact with Campbell's family and they were physically upset and shaking after hearing she died.
The state showed an image of Campbell after the wreck and Hardy became emotional and could be seen wiping away tears.
During closing arguments, the prosecution said the most tragic thing is that a young girl will never get to see the light of day. The state said Hardy has admitted to everything, including that he was intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle.
Hardy wants the jury to believe that Campbell had something to do with causing the wreck, the prosecutor said. The lawyer called Hardy insensitive and disgusting for partially blaming her for the wreck.
The defense in closing asked the jury to review the evidence and follow what the law says.
The state told the jury they're the only ones who can stop Hardy from going home free.