A jury must decide if Nadine Montoya intended to kill Lilian Verdonkschot when she ran over the woman in a Cadillac following a fight in the Burger King drive-through.
Montoya, 27, is charged with five criminal counts including first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder with extreme indifference, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Her trial began this morning and continues through the week in the courtroom of Denver District Judge Robert L. McGahey.
The incident began after 2 a.m. on May 29, 2009 when Montoya and friends, Briana Garcia and Damian Saiz left a party to get some food at Burger King.
Verdonkschot, her daughter Shala Parker and friend Jennifer Goodrich had also gone to the fast-food restaurant at 600 Broadway following a birthday party at an Uptown bar.
Parker was in front of Montoya in the drive through when Saiz walked up to her car and asked for a cigarette.
The group told him they didn’t have any left, but Saiz came back and asked again and put his hands in the car as if to reach for something.
Parker then rolled the window up and briefly trapped Saiz hands in the car.
Prosecutor Christine Washburn told jurors that is when the incident escalated into a violent fight that ended in Verdonkschot’s death.
“For some reason that really makes Ms. Montoya mad,” she said. “She starts calling them b——, calling them white b—— and throwing things at their car.”
Parker felt a bottle hit her back windshield and pulled into the parking lot to check out the damage.
Montoya and her group followed and began fighting with Goodrich and Parker. When employees at Burger King yelled they were calling the police to break up the fist fight, both groups rushed to get back into their cars.
Verdonkschot was still standing at the back of her daughter’s car when witnesses told police they heard the Cadillac’s engine rev.
Washburn said Montoya drove the Cadillac into Verdonkschot, pinning her to her daughter’s car which made Verdonkschot fall to the ground.
Then Washburn says Montoya backed up, aimed her car at Verdonkschot and ran over her.
“When she had Lilian Verdonkschot in her sights one of two things were in her mind: either she meant to kill or she simply didn’t care,” Washburn told the jury.
But defense attorney Albert Cordero told jurors Montoya didn’t mean to kill anyone.
“The evidence is not going to show that she intended to kill Ms. Verdonkschot or that she had extreme indifference to the value of human life,” Cordero said. “There was an argument and a fight and an accident when she was trying to leave. That conduct doesn’t mean you commit a crime intentionally.”
Washburn showed jurors a red-light camera photo that captured Montoya driving away from Burger King.
“This photo gives you a glimpse of what was going on in the defendant’s mind after she ran her car over another human being’s body – not once but twice,” Washburn said. “Does she looked panicked? No. Nadine Montoya was calm and collected and the only thing going through her mind was is she going to get caught.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
