File photo by David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star

Related articles:

Overdose kills man blamed in fatal crash

Other articles by Kim Smith:

Mistrials occur for numerous reasons; who might be at fault isn't predictable Man gets 10 years in stickup, ATM theft Deal means 17 1/2 years, max, in rapeAjo man, 19, is indicted in rape, killing of girl, 7 After 20 years on death row, he's free 3 arraigned in killings of girl, 9, fatherIndictment: Slain Ajo girl was raped, stabbedTucson man who killed mom gets 25-to-life in state hospitalWoman admits to role in killing of Tucson cabbie Judge rejects effort to silence Hermitage criticism

Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

A Tucson man scheduled to go to trial next week in connection with a fatal crash has died of a drug overdose, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Bruce Chalk.

Travis William Mach, 44, died Jan. 20, Chalk said.

Mach was arrested in March 2007, three months after Lorrie May Shirley was killed in a head-on collision near South Houghton and East Drexel roads.

Shirley, 45, died Dec. 19, 2006, when a purple Honda Civic crossed the center line on South Houghton Road and slammed into the Ford Tempo she was driving. Witnesses told police the Honda was weaving in the road erratically before the collision.

Mach, the driver of the Honda, was taken to a hospital in critical condition. He was arrested upon his release because blood tests showed he had alcohol and drugs in his system, Tucson police said at the time.

At the time of her death, Shirley’s family told the Arizona Daily Star that Shirley was a fun-loving and inspirational woman who survived lupus, a sometimes fatal immune-system disorder, two kidney transplants and heart surgery.

According to online court records, Mach pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 1996.

Chalk said he would ask a Pima County Superior Court judge to formally dismiss the case against Mach Tuesday.