Title: Cubbage v. State

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
JARID CUBBAGE, 
 
 
) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
)  No. 5, 2003 
 
 
Defendant Below,  
) 
 
 
Appellant,  
 
)  Court Below:  Superior Court  
 
 
 
 
 
 
)  of the State of Delaware in and 
v. 
 
 
 
 
 
)  for Sussex County 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
)  Cr. ID. No. 0202007080 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
 
 
Plaintiff Below, 
 
) 
 
 
Appellee. 
 
 
) 
 
Submitted:  May 20, 2003 
Decided: June 25, 2003 
 
Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, BERGER, and STEELE, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
This 25th day of June 2003, upon consideration of the briefs of the parties, it 
appears to the Court as follows: 
1. 
In October 2002, a Sussex County Superior Court jury convicted 
Appellant, Jarid Cubbage of Robbery in the First Degree,1 Possession of a Deadly 
Weapon During the Commission of a Felony,2 Conspiracy in the First Degree,3 and 
Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony.4  In this appeal, Cubbage 
argues that the trial judge erred by denying his Motion for Judgment of Acquittal 
                                                 
1 11 Del. C. § 832(a)(2). 
2 11 Del. C. § 1447(a). 
3 11 Del. C. § 513(1). 
4 11 Del. C. § 1239(a). 
 
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because the State failed to present sufficient evidence: (1) regarding the intention 
to commit the offenses and (2) to support conviction on all the charges.  We 
believe that Cubbage’s arguments are without merit and therefore affirm.   
2. 
Cubbage entered a guilty plea in 1994 to a charge of Robbery in the 
Second Degree and was therefore a convicted felon at the time of his October 2002 
Sussex County jury trial.  From May 2000 to February 2002, Cubbage worked at a 
Burger King in Sussex County, and on February 8, 2002, Cubbage worked at a 
Burger King in Rehoboth Beach as an assistant manager.  As one of the assistant 
managers, Cubbage had a key to the restaurant safe.  The safe also contained a 
combination lock and only the owners and three store managers (Cubbage, 
Michael Johnson, and Pamela Sue Bland) had both the key and the combination. 
3. 
On February 9, 2002, at approximately 1:00 a.m., assistant manager 
Johnson was counting the daily receipts and placing $1,407.03 in the night deposit 
bag.  Jason Baull, an employee, assisted Johnson with the closing responsibilities.  
Baull’s responsibilities included cleaning the restaurant and removing the trash 
while Johnson totaled the receipts.   
4. 
While totaling the receipts, Johnson heard Baull calling him from 
outside the restaurant.  Johnson laid the deposit bag on a storage room table and 
went outside to investigate.  Johnson saw two people dressed in black and one of 
the individuals had his arms around Baull.  The larger of the two individuals had 
 
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what appeared to a be a 9 millimeter handgun pointed at Baull’s head while the 
other individual had a baseball bat.  Johnson also noticed a third person dressed in 
black and wearing black gloves trying to hide behind the store’s utility box.  All 
three of the individuals wore masks, and Johnson heard the individual with the bat 
address the gunman as “Daron.”  The gunman commanded Johnson not to do 
anything stupid or he would shoot Baull.  Johnson recognized the gunman’s voice 
to be that of Daron Lewis, a former employee at the Rehoboth Burger King from 
July 2001 through December 2001.  Johnson also recognized the voice of the 
person with the bat to be William James Wilson III, another former employee from 
June 2000 to December 2001. 
5. 
Lewis and Wilson took Johnson to the trash dumpster behind the 
restaurant and locked Johnson and Baull in the trash dumpster area.  A brick wall 
with access through two wooden doors standing approximately 12 feet high 
surrounded the restaurant dumpster area.  When Lewis and Wilson eventually ran 
away, Baull climbed over the wall and opened the doors for Johnson.  Johnson 
then noticed that someone opened the previously locked drive-thru window and 
took the deposit bag.  Johnson also inspected the store safe and noticed that the 
safe was still locked.  Johnson then telephoned Pamela Sue Bland, the store 
manager, to notify her of the robbery.  Bland went to the restaurant to meet with 
the State Police and then noticed that the safe was closed.  The next morning, 
 
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however, Bland opened the safe and discovered approximately $595.00 missing 
from the safe. 
6. 
On Sunday, February 10, 2002, Daron Lewis turned himself in at 
Delaware State Police Troop 4.  Lewis told Detective Hudson that Cubbage was 
the third masked participant in the Burger King robbery of the previous day.  
Detective Hudson arrested Cubbage that same afternoon while Cubbage was 
working at the Burger King.  The police searched Cubbage’s car and found three 
bandanas and a pair of black gloves.  Lewis later showed the Detective the location 
of the bat and a BB gun actually used in the robbery.   
7. 
In May 2002, Lewis entered a guilty plea to charges of Robbery in the 
Second Degree and Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony in 
connection with his involvement in the February 9th Burger King robbery.  Co-
defendant William Wilson also pleaded guilty to the same charges.  Both Lewis 
and Wilson testified at Cubbage’s trial and implicated Cubbage as the third 
participant in the February 9th robbery.  Lewis also testified that after he and 
Wilson placed Baull and Johnson in the dumpster area, Cubbage ran into the 
restaurant and stole the money.  Both Lewis and Wilson testified that Cubbage 
drove the three of them to Salisbury, Maryland and left the deposit bag at a 
residence.  Cubbage testified in his own defense at trial and denied any 
involvement in the robbery.  
 
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8. 
The standard of review in assessing an insufficiency of evidence claim 
is whether any rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most 
favorable to the State, could find a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  
The court does not distinguish between direct and circumstantial evidence in 
making this determination.5 
9. 
Cubbage argues that the trial judge should have granted his Motion 
for Judgment of Acquittal because the evidence was insufficient to support any of 
the four guilty verdicts.  In addition, Cubbage argues that he could not be 
convicted of the third count charging Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the 
Commission of a Felony because he never possessed either the BB gun or the bat 
during the robbery.   
9. 
We conclude that the State presented sufficient evidence to support 
the trial judge’s decision to deny Cubbage’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal.  
While Cubbage denied participation in the robbery, the jury, as the determiner of 
witness credibility, was free to reject Cubbage’s assertions and accept the contrary 
testimony of Lewis and Wilson.  
10. 
With respect to the count of Robbery in the First Degree, the trial 
testimony of the various prosecution witnesses provided sufficient evidence for a 
rational juror to find Cubbage guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  In order to 
                                                 
5 Monroe v. State, 652 A.2d 560, 563 (Del. 2001). 
 
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convict Cubbage of Robbery in the First Degree, the State must prove that 
Cubbage committed the offense of Robbery in the Second Degree and while in the 
course of the commission of that crime, Cubbage or another participant in the 
crime displayed what appeared to be a deadly weapon.6  In order to prove Robbery 
in the Second Degree, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that 
Cubbage, while in the course of committing theft, used or threatened the 
immediate use of force upon another person with the intent to prevent or overcome 
resistance to the taking of the property or to the retention of the property 
immediately after the taking.7  The trial judge instructed the jury on all of the 
statutory elements, including accomplice liability.8  Cubbage does not claim any 
error in the jury instructions.   
11. 
Johnson, the assistant manager, testified that he placed $1,407.03 in 
the deposit bag the night of the robbery and that there was money in the store safe 
that evening.  Johnson also testified that he saw three individuals and recognized 
two of the individuals (Lewis and Wilson) as former employees.  Johnson also 
testified that the previously locked drive-thru window was open after the robbery, 
but the store safe was still locked.  Later on Saturday morning, February 9, 
manager Pamela Sue Bland discovered approximately $595.00 missing from the 
                                                 
6 11 Del. C. § 832(a)(2). 
7 11 Del. C. § 832(a)(1). 
8 11 Del. C. § 271. 
 
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safe.  Bland also testified that only possession of a key and knowledge of the safe 
combination could unlock the safe.  According to Bland, only the restaurant 
owners, Johnson, Cubbage and she possessed keys to the safe.  Thus, Cubbage’s 
ability to access the safe constituted circumstantial evidence that Cubbage stole the 
money from the safe.  Cubbage’s ability to access the safe, Lewis and Wilson’s 
testimony implicating Cubbage as the third robber, and the bandana and gloves 
found in Cubbage’s car provided sufficient evidence for a rational juror to 
conclude that Cubbage took part in the Burger King robbery.  Several witnesses 
testified that the robbers used what appeared to be deadly weapons (a gun and a 
baseball bat) during the commission of the robbery.  Accordingly, the trial judge 
properly denied Cubbage’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal with respect to the 
charge of Robbery in the First Degree. 
12. 
With respect to the conspiracy charge, both Lewis and Wilson 
testified that along with Cubbage, the three men traveled to Rehoboth Beach, 
purchased disguises at a dollar store, and discussed the plan to rob the Burger 
King.  Based on this testimony, a rational juror could conclude that Cubbage 
conspired with Lewis and Wilson to commit the robbery.  In addition, this 
testimony along with Johnson’s testimony that the three robbers wore disguises 
could easily result in a rational juror concluding that Cubbage wore a disguise in 
the robbery. 
 
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13. 
While intent must be proved in order to convict on the four offenses 
charged, that statutory element is normally proved by circumstantial evidence.  11 
Del. C. § 306(c) states: “A person is presumed to intend the natural and probable 
consequences of the person’s act.”  A rational juror could therefore reasonably 
infer that Cubbage’s actions in planning the Burger King robbery with Lewis and 
Wilson, wearing a disguise during the robbery, and entering the restaurant to steal 
money were all actions done with the intent to commit the robbery offense.   A 
juror could also rationally conclude that Cubbage had the required intent for 
conviction of the deadly weapon offense even though he did not possess the gun or 
the bat because the trial testimony revealed that Cubbage directed Lewis and 
Wilson to exchange the weapons before the robbery and told the defendants to 
discard the weapons in West Rehoboth after the robbery.9 
14. 
Finally, it was not necessary for Cubbage to have personal possession 
of either the gun or the bat for a jury to convict him of the Possession of a Deadly 
Weapon During the Commission of a Felony.  “The defendant, by participating in 
the robbery, is responsible under Section 271 for the felony-weapons offense 
which was an integral part of the robbery.”10  Cubbage had vicarious accomplice 
liability despite not personally possessing the weapons because the gun and the bat 
                                                 
9 See Appendix to State’s Answering Brief at 22, 25, 28 (trial testimony of Daron Lewis).   
10 Brooks v. State, 367 A.2d 638, 639-40 (Del. 1976). 
 
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were used as an integral part of the robbery and Cubbage participated in planning 
and committing the robbery.   
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the Superior 
Court be AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Myron T. Steele 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice