Opinion ID: 1450094
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: aggravated burglary of rusch and brown's apartment

Text: Grissom claims there was not sufficient evidence to convict him of the aggravated burglary of Rusch and Brown's apartment. The jury instruction concerning the aggravated burglary of Rusch and Brown's apartment was essentially the same as the instruction concerning the aggravated burglary of Butler's apartment. The standard of review for the sufficiency of evidence previously has been set forth. Grissom raises the same three arguments as in the preceding issue. He claims there was no evidence he was in Rusch and Brown's apartment on June 26, 1989. To support his no evidence claim, he cites to the fact there were no signs of a struggle or forced entry. Several keys to Rusch and Brown's apartment were found in Grissom's car. As discussed in Issue VI, this argument is not persuasive. Unlike Butler's apartment, a pubic hair matching Grissom's pubic hair was found in the bedding in each woman's bedroom. Grissom attempts to lessen the impact of this evidence by arguing there was evidence he had been in Rusch and Brown's apartment before and no evidence concerning how long the pubic hair might have been in the bedding. Thibodo's testimony established that Grissom had been in Rusch and Brown's apartment around the end of May 1989. Even if the jury accepted the argument that Grissom's pubic hair had been in the apartment since May 1989, no explanation is offered for how his pubic hair ended up in the women's bedding. It is more reasonable for a jury to conclude the bedding had been washed during that one month period than to believe Grissom had lost one pubic hair in each woman's bedding when he entered the apartment under false pretenses at the end of May and that each pubic hair had remained in the bedding until the police discovered them on June 28, 1989, when the apartment was processed. Grissom's second complaint is that there was no evidence Rusch or Brown were in the apartment at the time of his alleged entry. He points out that although there was evidence Rusch left a local nightclub between midnight and 12:30 a.m. on June 26, 1989, there is no evidence she ever went to her apartment. The jury no doubt took into account the testimony of Rusch's friend, who stated that Rusch said she had to leave because she had to get up and go to work the next morning. Grissom acknowledges that the T-shirts Brown was wearing when she was last seen alive were found in her bedroom; however, he again suggests Brown could have changed her clothes and left the apartment. There is no evidence to support this supposition. Furthermore, when Brown left her boyfriend's place at about 6 a.m. on June 26, 1989, she indicated she was returning to her apartment to get ready for work. Grissom also contends the jury should attach no importance to the fact that a curling iron, which was still turned on, was found in one of the bathrooms after Rusch and Brown disappeared. The jury could decide otherwise. The jury also could take into account that Rusch and Brown never showed up for work that Monday or thereafter; that on the evening of the day both women disappeared, Rusch was photographed looking grim and disheveled as she withdrew money from Brown's checking account with Brown's ATM card; that Brown, while accompanied by Grissom and looking distressed, signed a storage rental agreement using Rusch's name, if the jury believed the manager's testimony; and that both Rusch and Brown disappeared and were never seen again. The evidence established a pattern of behavior. Grissom raises the same arguments concerning why there is no evidence showing he intended to commit a theft at the time he allegedly entered the apartment. Grissom's arguments were addressed in the previous issue and need not be repeated here. Based upon the evidence presented at trial, a rational factfinder could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Grissom had committed the aggravated burglary of Rusch and Brown's apartment.