McMullen v. State

The trial court erred in admitting evidence of the defendant's more than 10-year-old guilty plea to methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute because the sole similarity between the crimes was the fact that both crimes involved methamphetamine.

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Following a jury trial, Tammi Lynn McMullen was convicted on two counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree stemming from a motor-vehicle accident in which it was determined that McMullen was driving under the influence of a combination of drugs to the extent that it was less safe for her to do so. Among her ten enumerations of error, McMullen challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction, argues that the trial court erred in admitting similar-transaction evidence, and further asserts that the trial court erred for various reasons in denying her motion to suppress blood evidence and in admitting testimony regarding the analysis of that evidence. Although we find that the evidence was sufficient to support her convictions, we are constrained to hold that the admission of similar-transaction evidence was erroneous. We therefore reverse McMullen’s convictions. We note, however, that because the evidence of McMullen’s guilt was otherwise sufficient, the State is authorized to retry her without violating the constitutional bar against Double Jeopardy.1

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,2 the evidence presented at trial shows that just before 11:11 a.m. on July 21, 2009, McMullen was driving northbound in the left-hand lane on a roadway which consisted of two northbound lanes, two southbound lanes, and a center-turn lane. Also in the left-hand northbound lane was a stationary truck which had been pulling a two-axle trailer loaded with pine straw. Sometime prior to McMullen’s arrival, the trailer became unhitched from the truck, and the victims—the truck’s driver and passenger—were attempting to reattach it. Although the flashing lights on the truck were activated, they were not visible from a distance due to the trailer and its contents. McMullen failed to see the truck in front of her and collided with the rear of the trailer. When she did so, the victims, who had been between the truck and the trailer at the time of the collision, were fatally injured.

McMullen v. State

The trial court erred in admitting evidence of the defendant's more than 10-year-old guilty plea to methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute because the sole similarity between the crimes was the fact that both crimes involved methamphetamine.

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