Opinion ID: 162966
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence Supporting the Burglary Conviction

Text: 53 Mr. Torres also advances a more general challenge: he argues that the evidence is insufficient to allow a reasonable juror to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he broke into the Yanez/Morales home unlawfully and that, as a result, his petition should be granted as to both his murder and his burglary convictions. The State had to prove (1) breaking, (2) entering, (3) a dwelling, (4) of another, (5) in which a human is present, (6) with the intent to commit some crime therein. See Calhoun v. State, 820 P.2d 819, 821 (Okla. Ct.Crim.App.1991); Okla. Stat., tit. 21, § 1431 (first degree burglary). In support of his argument, Mr. Torres observes that one of the witnesses who observed the two men getting out of a car near the residence on the morning of the murders was unable to identify either man. He adds that, during her trial testimony, another witness mistook Mr. Torres for Mr. Ochoa. 54 Again, the OCCA's analysis did not constitute an unreasonable application of Jackson. Christina Yanez identified Mr. Torres as one of the men she saw in the residence at the time of the murders. Even though Ms. Yanez did not identify the two men when she was first interrogated by Oklahoma City police officers, the jury was entitled to find her identification testimony at trial to be credible, particularly in light of the fear and trauma that she may have experienced in the period immediately following the murders. In light of Ms. Yanez's testimony, and all the other evidence in the record, the OCCA's conclusion that the evidence was sufficient to support Mr. Torres's burglary conviction was not an unreasonable application of Jackson.