Opinion ID: 1133010
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The question of the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence.

Text: Defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a judgment of acquittal, because the evidence against him is entirely circumstantial and insufficient to sustain his conviction. We reiterate that circumstantial evidence need not amount to a mathematical demonstration of guilt. Mathis v. People, Colo., 448 P.2d 633, Gonzales v. People, 128 Colo. 522, 264 P.2d 508. The applicable legal test is whether there is evidence in the record from which a jury can find beyond a reasonable doubt that the facts exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Mathis v. People, supra , Militello v. People, 95 Colo. 519, 37 P.2d 527. A review of the undisputed testimony is appropriate in disposing of defendant's contention: A store was burglarized about 4:30 A.M., and a substantial amount of clothing was stolen. There were eyewitnesses to the crime, who saw only two men, one of whom wore a dark sports jacket. Police arrived as the two burglars were running away, and the two men were continuously in sight until they reached a parking lot. At the parking lot, the co-defendant in this case was arrested. The other man continued to run, was shot when he refused to obey a halt order, fell, got up and ran away. A dripping red spot was found at the place where the man was shot, which a witness testified looked like blood. The search for the second man continued, until defendant was found at 5:38 A.M., about an hour after the burglary. When found, defendant was in a crawl space, which was only about 3 to 4 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet high, under a porch at the back of a house within two blocks of the scene of the crime and the chase. He had blood on his right shoulder, on the right side and back of his shirt, and beside him lay a sports jacket with a hole in its right shoulder. Defendant exercised his constitutional right not to testify, and indeed, presented no evidence whatsoever on his behalf. The case was submitted to the jury on the basis of the uncontroverted evidence which we have here summarized. A jury is permitted to draw any reasonable inference of guilt from the evidence before it. The defendant here, having elected not to testify, cannot now complain that the jury drew reasonable inferences adverse to him. We conclude that there is ample incriminating evidence which is legally sufficient to sustain the jury's finding of guilt. And this court is not permitted to sit as a 13th juror to set aside a verdict which is supported by competent evidence. Mathis v. People, supra , Cokley v. People, Colo., 449 P.2d 824.