Resident Circuit Court Judge Mark Stedelin has found 22-year-old Justin Bullard of Iuka guilty of first-degree murder for the May 4th traffic death of Nita Mobley of Salem at the Hotze and West Main Street intersection.
The judge found a combination of factors raised Bullard’s actions to creating a strong probability of great bodily injury or death required for him to be found guilty of first-degree murder. Stedelin says they included that he was highly intoxicated and stated himself on a Snap Chat video while on the roof of the Crossroads Tavern in Sandoval that ‘I’m drunk’ and had another vehicle follow him to make sure he got home safely. He also noted the extreme speed of 90 plus miles an hour all the way from Sandoval to Salem and passing three other vehicles on the shoulder so fast they could hardly identify his truck. A third factor was approaching an intersection he knew at Hotze Road with a red light showing, with vehicles in the intersection, and still traveling at 96 miles per hour two seconds before the crash.
Together the Judge said he felt Bullard’s actions met the strong probability of great bodily harm or death required for him to be found guilty of murder.
Bullard’s attorney Patrick Costa presented no evidence and then asked the judge for a directed verdict to remove the murder charge from consideration because he said there had been no evidence to support the murder charge.
Costa admitted Snapchat videos viewed by the court showed Bullard and his passenger Austin Back acting like morons before Bullard made the biggest mistake of his life, but there was no evidence of malicious intent leading to the crash. He admitted Bullard was guilty of the lesser charges of aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death and reckless homicide.
Stedelin also found Bullard guilty of aggravated driving under the influence and street racing, but not reckless homicide because it was a lesser inclusive charge to the murder count.
Before announcing his verdict, Judge Stedelin took a 30-minute break after noting there was some case law for a death from a traffic crash resulting in a murder conviction in the past. He noted some of those cases in making his decision.
Sentencing was set for Friday, November 3rd, at 1:30 pm. Judge Stedelin agreed to revoke Bullard’s bond after finding him guilty of the three charges.
