In the October 10 issue of The Madill Record, readers were informed about a couple who were facing multiple felony charges. Donald and Sara McCullough have amassed a total of ten felonies and seven misdemeanors in a span of 14 months.
Donald McCullough is currently facing Kidnapping, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon – Auto, Financial Exploitation by Caregiver and two counts of Concealing Stolen Property, which are all felonies. The misdemeanors are Assault and Battery, DUI, No Insurance, No “M” Endorsement on His License, and No Registration.
Sara McCullough’s charges are for five felonies – Possession of a Stolen Vehicle, Endangering Others While Eluding/ Attempting to Elude, Kidnapping, Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Financial Exploitation by Caregiver. Her misdemeanor charges are Resisting and Malicious Injury to Property Less than $2500.
The duo faced their charges when the preliminary hearing began on October 2 when state’s witnesses testified. The hearing was then continued to October 22. Judge Gregory Johnson is the presiding judge over the cases, Assistant District Attorney Heather J. Cooper is the prosecuting attorney and Shelby Sheldon is the defense lawyer.
The prosecution began by calling Marshall County Deputy Anna Gerard to the stand. It was important for Cooper to establish to the court that even though the deputy’s last name was Gerard, that she had recently married. Her last name at the time of the investigation was Timms.
Cooper had Gerard give her statement about what happened the night she began her investigation into the McCulloughs. Gerard testified about driving through the neighborhood with her window down and hearing a man call for help.
Then, she spoke about how the victim was bleeding, and how he told her that Donald “Bubba” McCullough was the culprit who beat him. When Gerard testified that the victim thought the assault was because the husband was jealous, Donald McCullough just smiled and shook his head.
Gerard testified that when she spoke with Donald Mc-Cullough, he was nice at first, then seemed to get extremely agitated and went inside.
After the deputy went through her statement, Cooper asked if victim’s injuries aligned with his account of what happened. Sheldon objected, claiming it was speculation. The judge overruled, and Gerard said it did align with assault.
Cooper then ended her questioning after asking Gerard if she collected evidence from the van where sone of the alleged assault occurred. Gerard said she did collect blood on the back of the driver’s side seat and door handle, exactly where the victim alleged that he was sitting at the time of the second attack.Gerard said the defendant’s mother cleaned blood from the driver’s head rest.
Once the state rested, Sheldon, the defense attorney began his questions. The lawyer asked a few baseline questions, like how long she has been on the force and approximately how many investigations has she done. Then, Sheldon focused on the time of night the deputy decided to attempt to speak with the couple.
“You went to follow up around midnight,” Sheldon said. “Why? Why didn’t you pass it off to a day shift person?”
Gerard replied that she works the night shift and they typically are the ones that do the follow ups on the investigations. Sheldon then implied that maybe Donald McCullough was agitated because he was woke up in the middle of the night.
Sheldon then questioned if Gerard just blindly accepted what the “victim” said happened as fact, or if she investigated both sides. She said she does investigate both sides. Sheldon asked if the victim had a criminal record, Gerard could not recall.
Gerard testified that the victim said he lived at the residence with the McCulloughs. Sheldon questioned why Gerard did not arrest the victim for trespassing or theft if he did not show proof that he was neither a resident nor had permission to take the keys to the van.
The deputy said that the McCulloughs never said he was not a resident of their address, or that they did not give him permission to take the van.
After the defense rested, the judge had his own question for the deputy. “In your notes, you stated that Donald went outside to use the restroom at around two a.m, and that is when he saw [redacted] in the van. Did they not have a bathroom in their house?”
Judge Johnson then commented about the time Gerard decided to do a follow up. “I understand you’re doing your job, but I just don’t see why you couldn’t pass it off to a deputy that could go to their house between eight and five.”
The bathroom comment sparked a question from the defense. Sheldon asked Gerard about it. “Did you say he saw a light, then went outside to pee, and that’s when he found [redacted] rummaging through the van?”
Gerard replied, “No sir, he stated he had gone outside to pee and that was when he saw him rummaging.”
Once both sides were finished questioning Gerard, she stepped down and a representative from the Adult Protective Services was called to testify in the charge of Financial Exploitation by Caretaker.
At the end of the day, there were a few motions to withdraw on behalf of Sara McCullough.