Opinion ID: 1777920
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Lee contends that because the state failed to establish an adequate chain of custody for blood samples used in the DNA analysis, his motion for a directed verdict should have been granted. Lee submits that the motion for directed verdict should have been granted because, without the erroneously admitted DNA testimony, the evidence of the matching palm print was insufficient to connect him to the assault on the victim. Although Lee combines his argument concerning the sufficiency of the evidence with his challenge to the admissibility of the DNA evidence, the preservation of an appellant's right to freedom from double jeopardy requires that we review the sufficiency of the evidence prior to examining trial error. Passley v. State, 323 Ark. 301, 915 S.W.2d 248 (1996). Consequently, we address Lee's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence before considering his other assignments of trial error. In determining the sufficiency question, we disregard any alleged trial errors. Young v. State, 316 Ark. 225, 871 S.W.2d 373 (1994). On appeal, we determine whether the evidence in support of the verdict is substantial. Substantial evidence is that which is forceful enough to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion one way or another. Id. In a criminal case, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, and consider only that evidence which supports the guilty verdict. Id. In the instant case, the victim testified that she was home alone with her three-year-old nephew and three-month-old niece on the evening of the assault. She stated that while she was rocking her niece, a man came up behind her, put an arm around her neck, struck her on the head and face with an iron, forced her out of the house and into a wooded area, where he raped her, choked her, and held her head under water in a ditch until she lost consciousness. She testified that when she regained consciousness, she was lying face up in the ditch, wearing only a bra and a tee shirt. She returned home and was taken to a hospital emergency room where the rape examination was performed. The victim described her attacker as a tall, black man with large hands. Dr. George McCrary, a physician who was working at the Rebsamen Regional Medical Center Emergency Room on the night of the assault, testified that he examined the victim and performed the rape-kit examination. He stated that she had lacerations on the forehead and nose, choke-mark-type bruises on her neck, and scratches on her leg. He further testified that there was an abrasion on her vagina and mud and leaves in the area of her groin. Kenny King, a latent fingerprint examiner employed by the state crime lab, testified that the right-palm print taken from Lee matched State's Exhibit Thirty-One, which was a latent palm print recovered from the crime scene. Robert Baker, a lieutenant with the Jacksonville police department, testified that he lifted eleven latent fingerprints from inside and outside the victim's house two days after the assault. He identified State's Exhibit Number Thirty-One as a latent print obtained from the outside glass of a bedroom window that was believed to be the assailant's point of entry, because it was unlocked on the night of the assault. Harold Deadman, a special agent in the DNA analysis unit of the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., testified that he performed an analysis of blood samples from Lee and the victim, and two vaginal swabs taken from the victim after the rape. Deadman testified that he obtained a match with four of six probes used in comparing the known blood sample from Lee with the male fraction of DNA obtained from the vaginal swabs; he stated that the results from two of the probes were inconclusive for purposes of matching. Based on this analysis, Deadman testified that the probability of finding someone in the black population who had the same DNA as Lee would be one in eighty-three million. Clearly, there was overwhelming evidence of the rape and kidnapping from the testimony of the victim and the emergency-room physician. Moreover, the evidence linking Lee to the assault was substantial. This court has held that fingerprints can constitute evidence that is sufficient to sustain a conviction. Howard v. State, 286 Ark. 479, 695 S.W.2d 375 (1985); Ebsen v. State, 249 Ark. 477, 459 S.W.2d 548 (1970). Furthermore, semen in the vaginal swabs taken from the victim and Lee's blood matched, with the chance of an identical match being one in eighty-three million. We hold that the evidence was sufficient to support Lee's conviction for the crimes charged and that the trial court did not err in denying Lee's motion for directed verdict.