Opinion ID: 879939
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Crabb asserts the evidence presented at trial does not support the verdict. As to this particular issue, Crabb makes no additional specific claims as to why the evidence is insufficient. In considering whether the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction for a criminal offense we will look to the following standard of review as stated in Jackson v. Virginia (1979), 443 U.S. 307, 318, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573: [T]he sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction must be not simply to determine whether the jury was properly instructed, but to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But this inquiry does not require a court to ask itself whether it believes whether the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Woodby v. INS, 385 US [276] at 282, 17 LEd2d 362, 87 SCt 483 [at 486] ... Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 US [356] at 362, 32 LEd2d 152, 92 SCt 1620 [at 1624, 1625]. This familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. (Emphasis in original.) See, State v. Lundblade (Mont. 1986), 717 P.2d 575, 577, 43 St.Rep. 732, 733, 734. In reviewing the record we find there is sufficient evidence upon which a rational trier of fact could conclude that the defendant was guilty of felony assault as specified in § 45-5-202(2)(b), MCA.