Opinion ID: 532821
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Credibility of Akinwande

Text: 31 Mr. Edun's second submission is that his convictions on all counts should be reversed because the district court erroneously credited the testimony of Akinwande. According to the defendant, Akinwande's recounting of the facts is  'so internally inconsistent or implausible on its face that a reasonable fact finder would not credit it.'  Appellant's Br. at 21 (quoting Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 575, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1512, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985)). We cannot agree. An appellate court will not weigh the evidence or assess the credibility of the witnesses. United States v. Ramirez, 796 F.2d 212, 214 (7th Cir.1986).  'It is well settled law that a court of appeals does not stand in judgment of the credibility of witnesses. Rather, that question is left to the sound discretion of the trier of fact.'  United States v. Perry, 747 F.2d 1165, 1170 (7th Cir.1984) (quoting United States v. Roman, 728 F.2d 846, 856 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 977, 104 S.Ct. 2360, 80 L.Ed.2d 832 (1984)); see also United States v. Vega, 860 F.2d 779, 794 (7th Cir.1988); United States v. Noble, 754 F.2d 1324, 1332 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 818, 106 S.Ct. 63, 88 L.Ed.2d 51 (1985). But see United States v. Dunigan, 884 F.2d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir.1989) (To be incredible as a matter of law, a witness' testimony must be unbelievable on its face. In other words, it must have been either physically impossible for the witness to observe that which he or she claims occurred, or impossible under the laws of nature for the occurrence to have taken place at all.); United States v. Kuzniar, 881 F.2d 466, 770-71 (7th Cir.1989) (same principle).