Opinion ID: 759769
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 20 Abdullah also alleges that the government failed to adduce sufficient evidence at trial to support his conviction for receiving and possessing contraband cigarettes. In addressing such a challenge, we do not weigh the evidence presented, consider the credibility of witnesses, or substitute our judgment for that of the jury. See United States v. Hilliard, 11 F.3d 618, 620 (6th Cir.1993). Instead, we must determine merely whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, and after giving the government the benefit of all inferences that could reasonably be drawn from the testimony, any rational trier of fact could find the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). 21 Where, however, a defendant fails to renew a motion for judgment of acquittal pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 at the close of all proofs, appellate review is limited to determining whether there was a manifest miscarriage of justice. United States v. Price, 134 F.3d 340, 350 (6th Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 119 S.Ct. 114, 142 L.Ed.2d 91 (1998). A 'miscarriage of justice' exists only if the record is 'devoid of evidence pointing to guilt.'  Id. 22 No such miscarriage of justice is present in this matter. During trial, the government offered evidence from which a rational trier of fact could find Abdullah guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime for which he was convicted. The defendant attempted to offer legitimate explanations for his activities at the times relevant to the discovery of the contraband cigarettes on November 3 and 4. The jury, however, obviously credited testimony from government witnesses that Abdullah was not licensed as a cigarette wholesaler, that he was directly involved with sales of contraband cigarettes to Abdel Khidir on at least three occasions, that the defendant arrived in Dearborn at approximately the same time that a large shipment of contraband cigarettes arrived from New York, that Abdullah's fingerprints were found on cigarette order sheets, that Ilayan originally stated to police that he was delivering contraband cigarettes for another individual, and that the storage locker in which some of the contraband was found was rented out in Abdullah's name. Because the record on appeal is thus not devoid of any relevant proof of guilt, no miscarriage of justice has occurred in this matter such that the defendant would be entitled to relief from the judgment of conviction entered against him. 23