Jury Acquits Daughtrey of Death of Elderly Person
9.1.2007

A Criminal Court jury on Wednesday found Michael Chad Daughtrey not guilty in the traffic death of an elderly pedestrian in 2003. The jury in the courtroom of Judge Don Poole deliberated an hour and a half. The defendant had told an officer he never saw the woman before striking her on Timesville Avenue on Signal Mountain. County Sgt. Windole Adams said Michael Chad Daughtrey, 29, said the first time he noticed the body of 91-year-old Hala H. Atkins was when her body was thrown up on the hood of his vehicle. Daughtrey was initially charged with vehicular homicide and DUI. Criminal Court Judge Don Poole ruled out those counts on the motion of defense attorney Lee Davis earlier. The jury cleared him of the vehicular assault count. Sgt. Adams said Daughtrey appeared shook up and nervous after the incident on Sept. 23, 2003. He said it happened after dark under foggy and wet conditions. He said there were over 88 feet of skid marks. He said the marks start on the wrong side of the road, go to the center of the road and back into the lane Daughtrey was traveling. The officer said Daughtrey went down and turned around at a church parking lot, then returned to the scene. It was not known why the elderly woman was out in the center of the road in her nightgown and slippers, officials said. The officer said Daughtrey told him he had a shot of whiskey earlier. A blood alcohol test showed just a .01 alcohol level, but a trace of meth, witnesses said. Daughtrey chose not to testify. A neighbor, who said Ms. Atkins was "like a grandmother" to him, told of earlier disabling her car so she could no longer drive. Richard Rutherford said he did so after Ms. Atkins drove to the grocery store and, on her way back, was driving on the wrong side of the road and with her lights off.

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