Opinion ID: 853246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: The defendant claims there was insufficient evidence to show that she knowingly killed. In reviewing a claim of insufficient evidence, we will affirm the conviction unless, considering only the evidence and reasonable inferences favorable to the judgment and neither reweighing the evidence nor judging the credibility of the witnesses, we conclude that no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind.2000); Webster v. State, 699 N.E.2d 266, 268 (Ind.1998); Hodge v. State, 688 N.E.2d 1246, 1247-48 (Ind.1997). A person engages in conduct `knowingly' if, when [s]he engages in the conduct, [s]he is aware of a high probability that [s]he is doing so. Ind.Code § 35-41-2-2(b). A knowing killing may be inferred from the use of a deadly weapon in a manner likely to cause death. Hawkins v. State, 748 N.E.2d 362, 363 (Ind.2001)(Evidence that [the defendant] pointed and fired a shotgun at [the victim] striking him in the neck and chest is sufficient to sustain the murder conviction.); Cook v. State, 675 N.E.2d 687, 692 (Ind.1996)(Firing three shots in the direction of the victim undoubtedly constitutes using a deadly weapon in a manner likely to cause death.). The facts favorable to the judgment show that, at the time of the incident, the defendant, Stephanie Dunlap, was living with Terrell Cole, and that Tamika Ballard, pregnant by Cole, was living with Cole's mother, Tina Westbrook. On the day of the incident, the defendant came to the Westbrook home and engaged in an argument with Ballard. The defendant left and returned, armed with an assault rifle. She then fired the rifle once into the air outside the home. Westbrook and Ballard rushed to the front door to find the defendant in the front yard pointing the rifle toward them. Ballard stayed on the porch, and Westbrook jumped off the porch and went around behind the defendant and attempted to persuade her to leave. At some point after Westbrook reached the defendant, the defendant fired two or three shots toward the screen door where Ballard was standing. One of these bullets struck Ballard, eventually killing her. The defendant contends that Westbrook grabbed her and spun her around at which point the gun discharged two to three times, one of the bullets somehow, probably by ricochet, striking Ballard. Br. of Defendant-Appellant at 18. She argues that the discharge of the weapon was accidental, and that the evidence fails to establish that she knowingly killed Ballard. On direct examination Westbrook's testimony included the following description of the incident: Q. ... When you get out to where [the defendant] is, tell the jury what happens. A. I get in the back of her and I ask her would she get in the van, don't shoot at my house and she had started shooting. Q. How close are you to [the defendant] when this is happening? A. I'm right behind her, up right in the back of her. Q. And what direction is the gun pointed? A. Towards the porch. Q. Towards the porch? A. Yes, toward the screen door where Tamika [Ballard] was standing at. Q. Does she fire the gun? A. Yes. Q. About how many times do you think she fires the gun? A. Approximately three times. Q. What are you doing while she's firing the gun, Miss Westbrook? A. I'm just standing back there. There wasn't nothing I could do. Q. After she fires the gun, what happens? A. SheAfter she fired the gun, Tamika ran in the house and she gets in the van and takes off. And I goes back in the house and Tamika said she had beenshe had been shot. Q. Did you actually have your hands on [the defendant] as she's firing the gun? A. Before she started firing I was asking her, you know, trying to turn her around to go to her van, asking her, Don't shoot, you know. Don't shoot at my house. Don't shoot up there at the porch, you know. And when she started shooting, I kind-of backed away. Q. You kind-of backed away? A. Yes. Q. Do you think your hands were on her when she actually fired the gun in the direction of the house? A. I'm not sure. Record at 245-47. On cross examination, her testimony included: Q. Now, I think you told Mr. Pitzer, Miss Westbrook, that you're not sure if you were grabbing [the defendant] while she was shooting. Is that what you're telling us today? A. Yes, I am. I don'tI don'tI don't know if I was holding her. All I know when Iwhen I said I was trying to turn her around to go to her van, then she got to shooting. Record at 252-53. From the evidence that, after an earlier argument with Ballard, the defendant returned to the Westbrook home armed with an assault rifle, and thereafter fired it two or three times at the screen door where Ballard was standing, a reasonable jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly killed Ballard.