Opinion ID: 1450094
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: sufficiency of evidence robbery

Text: Grissom claims there is not sufficient evidence to support the State's theory that he, by force or threat, coerced Rusch into cashing the four checks and giving the money to him. Again, the standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence is: If the sufficiency of evidence is challenged in a criminal case, the standard of review is whether, after review of all the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the appellate court is convinced that a rational factfinder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Zimmerman, 251 Kan. 54, Syl. ¶ 1, 833 P.2d 925 (1992). Robbery is defined as the taking of property from the person or presence of another by threat of bodily harm to his person or the person of another or by force. K.S.A. 21-3426. Grissom does not dispute the evidence that Rusch cashed four checks totaling $2,400 at four different Johnson County branches of the Metcalf State Bank between 7:58 and 8:43 a.m. on June 26, 1989. What the defendant does dispute is that he required Rusch, by force or threat, to cash the checks and to give him the proceeds. Grissom claims there is no evidence from which a jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that he accompanied Rusch when she cashed the checks. The only testimony potentially linking Grissom to being in the car with Rusch when she cashed the checks was from another bank customer, who was making a deposit at the same time Rusch was cashing her first check. The customer testified that he noticed a car in the far right drive-up lane in which the driver was a white woman and the passenger was a black male. The customer said the car with the two passengers stuck in his mind because there were only a few cars in the drive-up lines that morning and because, based on his observations while making the daily deposit for his company, he rarely saw more than one person in a car in the drive-up lanes. The customer, however, was unable to describe the car in which he noticed the two passengers and to identify Rusch as the driver or Grissom as the passenger. Despite what the customer was not able to remember, a jury reasonably could attach significance to the customer's observation, especially when coupled with the timing of the two transactions  the customer made his deposit at 7:57 a.m. and Rusch cashed her check at 7:58 a.m. Thus, as little as one second could have separated the transactions. No one else remembered or observed Rusch during the cashing of the checks that morning except the teller at the fourth and final transaction. The teller remembered Rusch and commented that Rusch was wearing sunglasses, but could not tell if there was a passenger in the car because the placement of a pole obstructed her view. A pair of sunglasses identified as belonging to Rusch subsequently was found in the storage locker linked to Grissom. Grissom maintains there was no evidence the alleged taking was by force or threat because Rusch did not indicate that anything was wrong to any of the tellers. A jury reasonably could find other explanations for Rusch's silence just as Grissom contends there are other explanations besides force or threat to explain the deterioration of the quality of Rusch's handwriting between the writing of the first and fourth checks. Grissom also claims there is no evidence he obtained control of Rusch's $2,400. He says a jury cannot reasonably infer that he obtained control of Rusch's money simply because he was carrying a large amount in cash on him at the time of his arrest. Again, Grissom analyzes each element of the crime in isolation. In proving its case, the State relied upon establishing patterns of behavior. For example, the evidence established that significant sums of money were withdrawn from each woman's bank account around the time each disappeared. Additionally, a grim and disheveled Rusch was photographed withdrawing money from Brown's account with Brown's ATM card. The jury could also take into account that Grissom had access to weapons, knives and a Crosman air pellet pistol, and, if the jury believed Katf's assailant was Grissom, that Grissom previously had attempted to frighten another woman by force and threat. Based upon this and other evidence in the case, a jury could reasonably find that Rusch was compelled, by force or threat, to withdraw the $2,400 from her account before disappearing, never to be heard from again. The robbery convictions are supported by evidence, although circumstantial, from which a rational factfinder could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.