Munnerlyn v. State

In Munnerlyn v. State, 264 Ark. 928, 576 S.W.2d 714 (1979), the Court upheld a defendant's conviction for the sale of methamphetamine where he argued on appeal that the chain of custody was not properly preserved because the undercover officer who bought the pills did not testify at trial that the samples introduced into evidence were the same pills as those purchased from the defendant. Id. at 931, 576 S.W.2d at 716. The Munnerlyn court reasoned that the officer testified that he mailed the pills to be analyzed via certified mail, that the certified mail numbers on the envelopes introduced into evidence corresponded with the numbers recorded by the officer, and that the envelopes were sealed when received for analysis and were resealed by the chemist. The court also noted that the defendant had not alleged that the samples had been tampered with, and none of the circumstances of the case suggested any significant possibility of tampering. Id.