Idaho Supreme Court overturned drunk driver Adam Paulson’s conviction. What’s next?
An Eagle man whose vehicular manslaughter conviction — which resulted in the death of a 24-year-old Boise woman — was overturned by Idaho’s highest court will likely face a retrial.
After Adam Paulson, 46, tampered with an alcohol-monitoring device and violated his probation, 4th District Judge Deborah Bail imposed on him a 15-year prison sentence in June 2019. But earlier this month, the Idaho Supreme Court set aside the felony conviction over key details omitted from the jury trial — prompting Bail to rescind her decision.
Now, Paulson has been transferred from the Nampa Community Re-Entry Center, an Idaho Department of Correction facility, to the Ada County Jail. His bail was set at $500,000, but as of Wednesday, he had not bailed out. Previously, Paulson could not afford to pay his bond, Gabriel McCarthy, his public defender, said during a Jan. 18 hearing.
The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office plans to retry Paulson on the vehicular manslaughter charge, spokesperson Emily Lowe told the Idaho Statesman Wednesday by email. Paulson’s next court date has not been set.
In November 2017, Paulson, while drunk, had fatally struck Madeline “Maddie” Duskey while she crossed Eagle Road near Riverside Drive, according to court records.
The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office initially asked the district court to hold Paulson without bail as his “conduct in this case, criminal history, and failure on probation support the conclusion that (Paulson) poses a risk to re-offend, a risk to the community and no condition or combination of conditions would protect the community,” Deputy Prosecutor Heather Reilly stated in a Jan. 11 motion.
As of Wednesday, the case is officially back in the jurisdiction of the 4th District Court in Ada County, Lowe said.
Paulson receives reduced sentence, violates probation
Paulson was driving drunk on the night of Nov. 18, 2017, and was on his way home when his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck struck and killed Duskey, prosecutors previously said. His initial trial in 2018 lasted a week and ended with a jury conviction.
Paulson was already on probation for two misdemeanors — misdemeanor domestic violence without traumatic injury and destruction/alteration of evidence — when the fatal collision occurred, according to court records.
Paulson was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with five years fixed, but Judge Bail suspended his sentencing and placed him on supervised probation for 15 years in January 2019. Bail ordered him to spend 14 months in jail but gave him credit for the 14 months he had already served.
But in June 2019, Paulson’s bail was revoked — roughly six months after being sentenced — and his underlying prison sentence imposed after Bail discovered he had intentionally tampered with a SCRAM alcohol-monitoring device he was required to wear as part of his probation. Evidence presented during the trial showed that his blood alcohol content was .213% when a blood draw was done by a paramedic, after various breathalyzer tests showed it to be between .164% and .197%, according to the Supreme Court ruling. The legal limit is 0.08%.
Paulson could have been eligible for parole in January 2023, according to online records from the Idaho Department of Correction.
Earlier this month, the Idaho Supreme Court set aside the felony conviction, prompting Bail to rescind her decision. Justices said in an opinion the jury was not informed of key details involving Duskey’s death.
Why Idaho Supreme Court overturned conviction
Duskey’s autopsy found that she had a blood alcohol content of .238% and marijuana in her system. The forensic pathologist characterized her level of intoxication as “acute alcohol intoxication.” Blood alcohol content is generally considered fatal if it’s above .40%.
Part of the Supreme Court’s decision, it said, was based on the argument the district court should have instructed the jury on “intervening” and “superseding” causes because the pedestrian, who was intoxicated, crossed the road in an unlit area with no marked crosswalk and was wearing dark clothing.
“The accident was unavoidable and not due to Paulson’s intoxication,” McCarthy said during last week’s hearing.
The case and Paulson’s initial sentence garnered national attention and a 2019 statement from Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President Helen Witty, who said it “illustrates a failure in the Idaho judicial system.”
“The typical sentence for killing someone in an impaired driving crash is three to five years in prison,” Witty wrote. “Paulson’s extraordinary sentence is an injustice to the victim in the case and to the nearly 11,000 people a year killed by this violent, 100% preventable crime.”
The maximum penalties for felony vehicular manslaughter are 15 years in prison, a $15,000 fine, or both. Prosecutors had asked for 15 years for Paulson, including five before he was eligible for parole.
The Idaho attorney general’s office did not ask the Idaho Supreme Court to rehear the case, spokesperson Scott Graff told the Statesman by email. The deadline to ask for rehearing was Tuesday.
While the attorney general’s office has until April 4 to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, Graff said there would be no basis for that as the main question in the case was based on state law.
This story was originally published January 27, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
