Opinion ID: 2056466
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: The defendant claims the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to support his convictions. Specifically, although he admits that he fatally struck Massengill with a sledgehammer and took the victim's wallet and handgun, the defendant claims that the State failed to prove the element of intent as to each of the charged offenses. The defendant contends that the only evidence on this issue came from a witness, Joseph Davis, whose testimony was incredibly dubious. In addressing a claim of insufficient evidence, an appellate court must consider only the probative evidence and reasonable inferences supporting the judgment, without weighing evidence or assessing witness credibility, and determine therefrom whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Marcum v. State, 725 N.E.2d 852, 863 (Ind.2000). Under the incredible dubiosity rule, however, a reviewing court may impinge on the fact-finder's responsibility to judge witness credibility when a sole witness presents inherently contradictory testimony which is equivocal or the result of coercion and there is a complete lack of circumstantial evidence of the defendant's guilt. Tillman v. State, 642 N.E.2d 221, 223 (Ind. 1994); accord Lee v. State, 735 N.E.2d 1169, 1173 (Ind.2000); White v. State, 706 N.E.2d 1078, 1079-80 (Ind.1999). Davis's testimony does not fit into the incredible dubiosity rule. While inconsistencies exist between witness Davis's statement to police and his trial testimony, they do not render his testimony inherently contradictory as a result of coercion. Further, the convictions were not based solely on Davis's testimony. The defendant admitted to police that he and Davis had gone to the victim's home and that, when the victim and Davis ignored the defendant's demand that they stop arguing, he threw a hammer, intending to hit Davis but striking Massengill instead. In addition, the pathologist testified that the victim was probably struck three times in the head. The jury could have easily inferred that striking a man in the head three times with a sledgehammer was intentional and not accidental. Sufficient evidence was presented to establish the element of intent for the defendant's convictions of murder and robbery.