Opinion ID: 1059715
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Credibility and Sufficiency of Evidence of Capital Murder

Text: In assignments of error 5 and 6, Yarbrough asserts that the trial court erred in failing to strike the capital aspect of the murder indictment and in imposing the jury's verdict with respect to capital murder. As he did at trial, Yarbrough maintains that the evidence adduced by the Commonwealth fails to establish that he, and not Rainey, was the actual instigator and perpetrator of the robbery and killing of Hamby. Yarbrough asserts that Rainey's accomplice testimony lacked sufficient credibility and that, absent credible corroboration from direct testimony, the forensic evidence established only that Yarbrough was present at the time of the murder. Thus, he contends that the evidence failed to support the indictment for capital murder or, in the alternative, that the jury could not find him guilty of capital murder because of reasonable doubt arising from Rainey's accomplice testimony. Yarbrough further contends that even if he could be found guilty of capital murder, the evidence was insufficient for the jury to find in the penalty-determination phase that the killing involved torture or an aggravated battery and, thus, that the Commonwealth had failed to sustain its burden of proof as to the vileness aggravating factor. Code § 19.2-264.2. Specifically, Yarbrough asserts that the Commonwealth did not establish that Hamby was conscious at the time of the murder because the forensic evidence did not show that Hamby struggled or resisted, which, Yarbrough contends, would be inconsistent with Rainey's testimony that Hamby pleaded with Yarbrough to stop. Thus, he contends that the Commonwealth failed to prove that the murder was necessarily vile in that it involved torture of the victim. Similarly, Yarbrough contends that the forensic evidence failed to establish that the manner in which the killing occurred constituted an aggravated battery beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish an act of murder. Thus, Yarbrough contends that the Commonwealth failed to establish the necessary criteria from which the jury could find the murder to have been sufficiently vile to warrant imposition of the death penalty. [4] For the reasons that follow, we disagree with each of these contentions. [T]he credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded their testimony are questions for the fact finder. Saunders v. Commonwealth, 242 Va. 107, 113, 406 S.E.2d 39, 42, cert. denied, 502 U.S. 944, 112 S.Ct. 386, 116 L.Ed.2d 337 (1991). Where the jury has seen and heard the witnesses and assessed their credibility and the weight of their testimony, its determination of the facts will not be overturned on appeal unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Code § 8.01-680. Where the testimony of an accomplice comports with and is corroborated by the forensic evidence, that testimony is not inherently incredible. Cardwell v. Commonwealth, 248 Va. 501, 512, 450 S.E.2d 146, 153 (1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1097, 115 S.Ct. 1826, 131 L.Ed.2d 747 (1995). In such a case, the determination of whether the accomplice's version of events is to be believed rests soundly within the discretion of the jury. See, e.g., Joseph v. Commonwealth, 249 Va. 78, 86-87, 452 S.E.2d 862, 868, cert. denied, 516 U.S. 876, 116 S.Ct. 204, 133 L.Ed.2d 137 (1995). Accordingly, we hold that Rainey's testimony, which was corroborated by the forensic evidence, was not inherently incredible and, thus, that the Commonwealth's evidence was sufficient to permit the jury to find that Yarbrough killed Hamby. Similarly, the question whether Hamby was conscious during the murder is resolved by Rainey's testimony that Hamby pleaded with Yarbrough as Yarbrough cut Hamby's neck. Because this testimony was not inherently incredible particularly in light of the state medical examiner's testimony that it would have taken several minutes for Hamby to have bled to death, the jury reasonably could have found that Hamby was conscious throughout the entire ordeal. Moreover, the fact that the forensic evidence failed to establish that the 77-year-old victim struggled does not necessarily support the conclusion that he was unconscious. Indeed, it is just as reasonable for the jury to have concluded that Hamby did not struggle in order to show his submission to the threats being made by Yarbrough. While Yarbrough may selectively craft an interpretation of the evidence to suit his theory that Hamby was not conscious during the murder, the trial court, and this Court on appeal, may not substitute its own judgment for that of the jury where a reasonable interpretation of the evidence supports the verdict. Atkins v. Commonwealth, 257 Va. 160, 176, 510 S.E.2d 445, 455-56 (1999). In support of his contention that the murder did not involve an aggravated battery, Yarbrough asserts on brief that although the method by which the killing was accomplished was inept and inefficient . . . the evidence never established that one or even several cuts would have resulted in Hamby's death. Thus, he argues that the jury could not find that the killing was the result of an aggravated battery beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish an act of murder. In essence, Yarbrough contends that because the forensic evidence showed that none of the individual cuts in Hamby's neck would have been fatal, Hamby's death from loss of blood was necessarily the result of all the multiple wounds and, thus, these wounds constituted the minimum force necessary to accomplish the murder. In defining an aggravated battery as a battery which, qualitatively and quantitatively, is more culpable than the minimum necessary to accomplish an act of murder, Smith v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 455, 478, 248 S.E.2d 135, 149 (1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 2419, 60 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1979), we have never expressly confined our consideration of the acts taken to accomplish the murder to those wounds which actually caused the victim's death. To the contrary, we have held that acts that facilitate the murder, such as restraining the victim by force or assaulting the victim in the commission of a predicate felony are additional factors to be considered. See, e.g., Hedrick v. Commonwealth, 257 Va. 328, 338-39, 513 S.E.2d 634, 640 (1999). Here, the evidence fairly establishes that Yarbrough both restrained and assaulted Hamby in order to facilitate the murder, acts which constituted an aggravated battery beyond that necessary to accomplish the murder. Moreover, in proving the aggravating factor of vileness under Code § 192-264.2, we have consistently held that it is necessary for the Commonwealth to prove only that the murder involves torture, depravity of mind, or aggravated battery to the victim. Bunch v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 423, 442, 304 S.E.2d 271, 282, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 977, 104 S.Ct. 414, 78 L.Ed.2d 352 (1983) (emphasis added); see also Hedrick, 257 Va. at 339-40, 513 S.E.2d at 640. In other words, the use of the disjunctive or indicates that only one criterion must be established, though the Commonwealth may attempt to prove more than one. Here, as we have demonstrated, the evidence established at least two of those criteria. Accordingly, the evidence was sufficient for the jury reasonably to find that Yarbrough was Hamby's killer and that the manner in which the killing occurred was sufficiently vile to warrant imposition of the death penalty and, thus, that the trial court did not err in refusing to strike the capital aspect of the indictment.