Opinion ID: 1116292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the verdict of guilty was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

Text: With respect to the defendant Anthony Wimberly, this point is so lacking in merit as not to require discussion. See Harris v. State, 527 So.2d 647, 649 (Miss. 1988) (in affirming a felony shoplifting conviction, the Court found that the decision of the jury will not be set aside where there is substantial and believable evidence supporting such conviction). Anthony Wimberly had left Jackson, Mississippi, in a vehicle separate from that in which his mother was riding and they met in front of the Wal-Mart store in West Point, Mississippi. They were seen to meet again inside the store, and Anthony Wimberly was observed as he inserted the VCR container into a larger container, having first removed the fan from that container. He was seen to reseal the fan box in his mother's shopping cart, and she was seen to check out through the line, paying the price which would have been appropriate for the fan removed from the box then containing the VCR. When the store officials attempted to detain her, she fled. Anthony Wimberly left, almost immediately, driving off after the store officials inquired as to whether he had anything belonging to the store. Shortly thereafter he was found at the scene where the vehicle in which his mother fled from the store was in the ditch. He testified that all of these contacts were pure coincidence. The jury was fully justified in finding him guilty as charged in the indictment. See Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-23-45, 97-23-47 (1972). The case of Frederick Lewis presents a different problem. We cannot say that he is actually guilty or innocent. Our function, however, is to review the evidence presented at the trial and, since a jury has found Mr. Lewis guilty, we must determine whether or not a reasonable juror could have properly so found on the evidence presented at this trial. Winters v. State, 473 So.2d 452 (Miss. 1985); Fairchild v. State, 459 So.2d 793, 798 (Miss. 1984); May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss. 1984); Hemphill v. State, 304 So.2d 654, 655-56 (Miss. 1974). After a careful examination of the record, we are compelled to say that the record contains no proof of Lewis's guilt. Lewis was indicted as a principal, not as an accessory after the fact. See generally, Harris v. State, 290 So.2d 924, 927 (Miss. 1974) (in reversing a conviction for accessory after the fact of burglary, Court found that facts and circumstances known to defendant at time of incident as shown by the proof were wholly insufficient to support the conclusion that he knew a felony had been committed or that he was assisting a felon). The only evidence in the record relating to Lewis with respect to events prior to the shop-lifting incident itself is that he rode with Anthony Wimberly from Jackson to Starkville, and Lewis then drove the car from Starkville to Wal-Mart in West Point. [2] Lewis was not seen inside the store, so far as the record shows, and his testimony is that he could not find a fuzz-buster and that he was in the sporting goods department looking at fishing gear. There is no evidence that he knew that the shop-lifting episode was taking place nor that it was planned. [3] There is no evidence that he was aware that either Wimberly or Wimberly's mother was involved in such an episode. The record shows that he did ride with Anthony Wimberly when they left the Wal-Mart store, and that Wimberly was driving at a high speed. Lewis did deny that they were speeding, and denied knowing anything about the merchandise near the station wagon or in the station wagon. The record indicates that Lewis drove the station wagon from the point where the blue Blazer was stuck in the ditch to a point about 300 yards further. With respect to the items found in and around the station wagon, however, it must be remembered that neither Lewis nor Wimberly was charged with respect to any of these items. We come back to the fact that the VCR which was actually taken in this case remained in the shopping cart at Wal-Mart and was never in the station wagon or the blue Blazer. While we understand that Lewis's presence and his conduct following the episode at Wal-Mart casts strong suspicion [4] upon him, we are constrained to say that a reasonable juror, properly understanding the responsibilities of that office could not, under the facts disclosed in this record, have found Lewis guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See Steele v. State, 544 So.2d 802, 809 (Miss. 1989) (the State may prove a crime by circumstantial evidence, but where the case is based wholly on circumstantial evidence, the State must prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence). AFFIRMED AS TO WIMBERLY, REVERSED AND RENDERED AS TO LEWIS. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and PITTMAN, JJ., concur. ANDERSON, J., not participating.