Opinion ID: 1199641
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict

Text: ¶ 19 The trial judge denied Defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the state's case and also his motion for a directed verdict at the close of evidence. Defendant now challenges those denials, correctly arguing that if the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the conviction, the charges must be dismissed. State v. Mathers, 165 Ariz. 64, 66, 796 P.2d 866, 868 (1990). To decide the question, we must consider the admissible evidence of Defendant's guilt in a light most favorable to supporting the verdict. State v. Arredondo, 155 Ariz. 314, 316, 746 P.2d 484, 486 (1987). ¶ 20 Defendant had a strained relationship with Jeneane. On one occasion two years before her death, he spanked Jeneane and she called the police; he threatened to kill her if she again embarrassed him in that way. He had been drinking on the day Jeneane disappeared. Williams, the Fulminantes' neighbor, said he saw Jeneane about 10:00 the night of her disappearance leaning against a motorcycle in the Fulminantes' front yard. Defendant, however, told Williams that the girl he had seen was his niece; but Defendant has no niece. Defendant told police that Williams could not have seen a girl in front of his house because the streetlights and porch light had been out; contrary evidence established that Defendant fabricated this fact and that both lights had been on. Defendant falsely told police that he had trained Jeneane in the use of firearms. While Jeneane was still missing, Defendant manufactured a theory to explain his missing handgunthat Jeneane's abductors left her bound and gagged in front of the house while they went inside to take his pistol. Defendant gave several accounts of the events surrounding Jeneane's disappearancewhat time he telephoned the police and how he conducted his search for her. ¶ 21 The state also argues that the evidence regarding Defendant's gun was incriminating: he owned a .357 Dan Wesson pistol that was missing after the killing; when purchasing the Dan Wesson, Defendant told his wife he liked his gun because the barrels are very easily interchangeable, and it would be very easy to kill someone with such a weapon; he traded a rifle for an extra barrel for the pistol the same day Jeneane disappeared, yet did not reveal that information to police until four days later; and the extra barrel was also missing after the killing. ¶ 22 Additionally, the ballistics evidence was consistent with guilt: Defendant possessed ammunition of the same caliber that probably killed Jeneane; lead retrieved from Jeneane's head was from the same batch of ammunition as the lead found in Defendant's home; the projectile jacket recovered from the crime scene could have been fired from a.357 Dan Wesson; the projectile was fired from a dirty gun, and spent .357 cartridges retrieved from Defendant's home indicated they were also fired from a dirty gun; and finally, the projectile jacket found at the scene and those retrieved from Defendant's home indicated a similar manufacturer. ¶ 23 Defendant contends the state's circumstantial evidence is insufficient in light of the defense evidence. The person who discovered Jeneane's body walked the same route five times daily for the two previous days but did not see her until the third day. Additional evidence at the crime scene indicated Jeneane was not killed there. Further, the projectile jacket found at the scene was not detected when the body was first discovered, and testing showed it had not been fired through Jeneane's head. Forensic pathologists concurred that Jeneane died within two hours of her last meal, which Defendant claims to have made for her around 6:00 p.m., and Defendant told police he was with Mary from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Even if these facts are true, none is per se exculpatory. Thus, they go to the weight, rather than the sufficiency of the evidence. State v. Hardin, 99 Ariz. 56, 59, 406 P.2d 406, 409 (1965). ¶ 24 A directed verdict of acquittal is appropriate where there is `no substantial evidence to warrant a conviction.' Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla and is such proof that `reasonable persons could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.' Mathers, 165 Ariz. at 67, 796 P.2d at 869. The question is whether, on the evidence presented, rational factfinders could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 324, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2791-92, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). ¶ 25 In Mathers, we found the state's evidence was insufficient despite the fact that the defendant travelled from California to Arizona with two persons involved in a murder at the destination. 165 Ariz. at 71, 796 P.2d at 873. In both Mathers and the present case, there was no direct evidence of the defendant's presence at the murder scene or participation in the murder. In several cases, however, we have affirmed convictions premised primarily or entirely on circumstantial evidence. See, e.g., State v. Spencer, 176 Ariz. 36, 859 P.2d 146 (1993) (defendant was with victim and in control of her car immediately prior to murder, withdrew all money from victim's bank account, and tire tracks at scene were consistent with victim's car, which defendant was videotaped selling to undercover officer); State v. Hill, 174 Ariz. 313, 848 P.2d 1375 (1993) (defendant argued with victim two weeks prior, possessed store receipts from where victim shopped, and shoe prints matching defendant's led from victim's truck to victim's home, where defendant was found). [2] ¶ 26 The instant case is troubling because, while there is more evidence of guilt than that presented in Mathers, there is no evidence directly or conclusively linking Defendant to the crime scene or the crime. At a minimum, we found such a talisman in the circumstantial evidence cases noted above. No particular piece of evidence, however, is required as a prerequisite for sufficiency. The totality of circumstances must add up to proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Cf. Yates v. Mississippi, 685 So.2d 715, 718 (1996) (applying a totality of circumstances test for sufficiency of evidence); Commonwealth v. Jackson, 540 Pa. 556, 659 A.2d 549, 550 (1995) (same); Urrutia v. Wyoming, 924 P.2d 965, 967 (1996) (same). ¶ 27 In reviewing the evidence, we must draw all reasonable inferences that support the verdict. State v. Girdler, 138 Ariz. 482, 488, 675 P.2d 1301, 1307 (1983). In that light, the state's evidence may be summarized as demonstrating that Defendant made several false, misleading, and inconsistent statements to police, other witnesses, and his wifeshowing consciousness of guilt. Defendant had a bad relationship with Jeneane and perceived her as a threat to his marriageevidence of motive. Mary was in the hospitalproviding an opportunity to commit the murder. Defendant had a gun and ammunition of the same type used to kill Jeneane and purchased an extra barrel for the gun the day Jeneane disappeared. Both items were missing when police investigated, and Defendant could not rationally explain their disappearancestrengthening an inference they might have been used to kill Jeneane. ¶ 28 From this we find sufficient evidence from which the jury could have pieced together a web of suspicious circumstances tight enough that a reasonable person could conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Defendant was the perpetrator. While each element of the offense must be established beyond a reasonable doubt, each supporting fact need not be. 2 JOHN W. STRONG ET AL., MCCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 341, at 446 n. 6 (4th ed.1992). Taken as a whole, the admissible evidence was thin [3] but sufficient to support a verdict that Defendant was the killer. Premeditation, however, is a somewhat different issue, which we address later.