Opinion ID: 1707120
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: whether the verdict of the jury is contrary to the law and against the overwhelming weight of evidence?

Text: ¶ 32. Higgins argues the jury's verdict is contrary to the overwhelming weight of evidence presented at trial. Higgins claims the evidence established the shooting could not have occurred as Williams, the State's eyewitness testified it did. Higgins also claims the evidence further established there was no malice in connection with the shooting and Higgins shot in self defense. ¶ 33. This Court's stringent standard of appellate review for challenges to the legal sufficiency of evidence was articulated in Garrett v. State, 549 So.2d 1325, 1331 (Miss. 1989) (quoting McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 133-34 (Miss.1987)): When on appeal one convicted of a criminal offense challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence, our authority to interfere with the jury's verdict is quite limited. We proceed by considering all of the evidencenot just that supporting the case for the prosecutionin the light most consistent with the verdict. We give the prosecution the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the accused with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, reversal and discharge are required. On the other hand, if there is in the record substantial evidence of such quality and weight that, having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable and fairminded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment might have reached different conclusions, the verdict of guilty is thus placed beyond our authority to disturb. ¶ 34. While Higgins testified he shot Boudery justifiably in self-defense, reasonable and fairminded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment could have reached a different conclusion. The evidence favorable to the State's theory of the case demonstrates that Higgins was seen with the murder weapon and he was seen shooting the victim. No witness claimed to see the victim aim his gun at Higgins. More than one witness testified the victim was stretched across a table and beaten by several men. Higgins was seen hitting the victim over the head with a gin bottle. A police officer observed lacerations on the left temple of the victim's body. The medical examiner testified that the trajectory of the bullet which killed Boudery would be determined by the position of the gun and the position of the body. Testimony was offered that the fatal shot came not from the front but from the side, explaining the entrance wound in the axillary of the body. ¶ 35. It is enough to say the evidence created a factual issue with respect to whether the killing, which was admitted, was either murder or justifiable homicide. See Harris v. State, 532 So.2d 602, 603-05 (Miss.1988); Griffin v. State, 495 So.2d 1352, 1354 (Miss. 1986). Accepting the testimony of the State's witnesses as true and considering all the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution's theory of the case, this Court concludes there is sufficient evidence in the record from which a jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt the killing of Boudery was malicious and was not done in necessary self-defense. [T]he jury is the trier of fact and if their verdict is supported by the evidence, we will not disturb it. Pace v. State, 473 So.2d 167, 169 (Miss.1985).