Opinion ID: 1852436
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Testimony of Jeannie Seamer

Text: ¶ 53. Jeannie Seamer, a citizen nearby, testified that she saw four black males in a silver-gray BMW park in front of the bank. Later, she saw three of them at the bank door and one remaining in the driver's seat of the BMW. She noticed that the three men at the bank door had ski masks on their heads and guns in their hands. She then went to the police station and told them that the bank was being robbed. Seamer testified that when the police sirens started going off, the man in the BMW drove away by himself. The bank's vice-president, Carl Ware, testified that he also saw a gray BMW outside the bank prior to the robbery. ¶ 54. Testimony at trial established that Payton had access to, and occasionally drove, a gray BMW matching the description given by Seamer and Ware. Although the car was registered to someone else, Payton had previously filed a claim with his insurance company when the car had been in an accident. He listed himself as the owner. The BMW was destroyed by an intentional fire soon after the bank robbery. ¶ 55. Seamer testified that she recognized Payton as the driver of the robber's car when she saw him at the first trial, but his looks had changed since then to the extent that she could not identify him at the second trial. Seamer testified that no one asked her to identify Payton at the first trial. She said that had she been asked to identify him at that time, she would have been able to. She testified that if Payton was the same man that was at the first trial, then he was the man she saw in the BMW. ¶ 56. On cross-examination, referring to Payton's first trial, Payton questioned Seamer as follows: Q. Then you were asked if you know the gentlemen here, pointing to Mr. Payton; right? A. Right. Q. So, you must have been focused on him, because they pointed to him; right? A. Right. Q. And, you said, No, sir, I sure don't, and then you were asked, You can't say he was there at all; can you? And, your answer was, No, sir. A. No, sir. [ [6] ] Therefore, Seamer's testimony was called into question. ¶ 57. When evidence is in conflict, the jury is the sole judge of both the credibility of a witness and the weight of his testimony. Weathersby Chevrolet Co. v. Redd Pest Control Co., 778 So.2d 130, 133 (Miss.2001). The jury is charged with listening to and reviewing conflicting testimony and witness credibility, and deciding whom to believe. Wetz v. State, 503 So.2d 803, 807 (Miss.1987). ¶ 58. Seamer's testimony, was not so incredible as to be unworthy of submission to the jury or of acceptance by them. Other testimony confirmed her description of the BMW and everything else she testified to, save her testimony that she could have identified Payton at the first trial. Seamer's testimony, combined with the other evidence produced by the State, could constitute the slight corroborative evidence of the accomplices' testimony sufficient to sustain the verdict. See Brown v. State, 682 So.2d at 345. ¶ 59. On the issue of legal sufficiency, this Court held in Pinkney v. State, 538 So.2d 329, 353 (Miss.1988), that reversal can only occur when evidence of one or more of the elements of the charged offense is such that reasonable and fair minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty. The testimony of Payton's three co-defendants was reasonable and not substantially impeached. It was corroborated by numerous other witnesses who testified to Payton's involvement in these crimes, and he was linked to the crimes through credible evidence. Although Payton's counsel did his best to discredit and confuse these witnesses, their testimony was not so incredible or unreliable that a reasonable and fair-minded jury could not have believed it. Given the deference that must be afforded to the jury's verdict when it finds support in the evidence, we conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to set aside the verdict for lack of evidence. [7]