WOODLAND — Both the prosecutor and the defense attorney agreed on one thing Wednesday — that Alisa Horner was intoxicated and acting aggressively that June night in front of the 7-Eleven store on Woodland’s East Main Street.
Where they diverge, however, is whether defendant Kristal Ellen Sutton lawfully left the scene after running over Horner in the convenience store parking lot. The 28-year-old Woodland woman is standing trial for felony hit-and-run this week in Yolo Superior Court.
Horner “was drunk, asking for cigarettes, money,” Deputy District Attorney Larry Eichele told the six-man, six-woman jury in his opening statement about the June 30 incident. “Ms. Sutton didn’t like it. She got in her car, and she tried to leave.”
In doing so, Sutton allegedly drove over Horner as the older woman stood in front of Sutton’s white Buick LeSabre. Witnesses reported that Sutton briefly got out of her car and cursed at the gathering crowd before driving to her home a quarter-mile away, where police took her into custody.
Horner, 58, died from her injuries two days later at the UC Davis Medical Center.
Eichele said Sutton never contacted law enforcement about the incident, fearful that her uninsured vehicle would be impounded as a result.
“She was afraid for her personal well-being, and that is this case,” Eichele said.
But according to Sutton’s attorney, Public Defender Tracie Olson, it’s about more than that.
Sutton was “scared for her life,” Olson said in her opening remarks. She said Sutton emerged from the 7-Eleven after buying a soda and was confronted by Horner, who said, “You need to come with me” as she pointed toward a cluster of what appeared to be homeless people.
A physical altercation ensued, with Horner reportedly slapping Sutton in the face and Sutton pushing Horner’s face after the older woman stuck her head through Sutton’s open car window.
“She’s in fear. She’s in panic,” Olson said of her client. Horner hung onto the car as Sutton backed up, then moved in front of it, “and just like that, she gets hit.”
Olson said she plans to elicit testimony from local police officers regarding past contacts with Horner, who according to Yolo court records had a lengthy history of alcohol-related offenses, including multiple arrests for public intoxication. Authorities said her blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent on the night of the incident.
Several of Horner’s adult children wept audibly as Eichele displayed on a large screen photographs of the injured woman lying on her side in the 7-Eleven parking lot, prompting Judge Timothy Fall to halt witness testimony and ask the upset relatives to step outside the courtroom to avoid distracting the jury.
One woman initially refused and had to be escorted out by a bailiff.
Woodland police Officer Lear Luttrell, the first witness to take the stand, said Horner was breathing but unconscious when he arrived on the scene minutes after the encounter. He said he observed what appeared to be tire marks on the woman’s clothing.
Luttrell said he spoke with witnesses and viewed security footage taken from inside the 7-Eleven store, which showed portions of the confrontation between Horner and Sutton, followed by footage of the Buick rising up, then lowering as it headed west through the parking lot.
“It was going over the victim, Ms. Horner,” Luttrell said.
A witness had taken note of the Buick’s license-plate number, which officers used to track Sutton down at her Alice Street home. Also on the scene was the father of Sutton’s twin children, whom Sutton had called after arriving at the house.
Luttrell said he took a statement from Sutton about her encounter with Horner, but “she never said she was scared.”
An audio recording of that interview played in court refuted that recollection, however.
“I’m scared s—less at this point — this lady is literally inside my car,” Sutton said at one point. “She scared the crap out of me.”
Asked why she left the scene without calling police, Sutton said, “I wasn’t going to wait for her to climb back into my car.” But she also cited her lack of car insurance, “and I didn’t want you to impound my vehicle.”
“I barely nudged her,” Sutton added, only to learn from Luttrell that Horner was en route to the UC Davis Medical Center with injuries that included a cracked skull.
“Are you serious? With a cracked skull?” Sutton said. At that point, she was placed under arrest. Luttrell said she did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The jury also heard from Marisa Romero, who was sitting in her vehicle outside 7-Eleven that night while her husband ordered dinner from a neighboring taqueria.
“What drew my attention was I heard this thump, thump,” Romero recalled. She got out of her car and looked for the source of the noise, and “I see this body rolling out from under the car.”
Romero said she grabbed her cell phone and called 911. Around her, bystanders hollered at the car’s driver, who yelled, “She (expletive) tried to attack me!” before leaving the scene.
A certified nursing assistant, Romero checked for a pulse on the wounded woman as she lay on the pavement.
“I can’t forget her face,” Romero said, then broke down crying.
Testimony continued today in Fall’s courtroom. The jury could receive the case as early as Friday.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene