Opinion ID: 1182224
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence to Support the Convictions

Text: Defendant argues that neither the kidnapping nor the murder charge is supported by sufficient evidence to justify the guilty verdicts. In reviewing this claim, we do not sit as a 5-justice jury, reevaluating the evidence to determine whether we would have convicted defendant on the evidence presented at trial. Such an approach would nullify the jury's function in this case. Rather, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, and we must resolve all reasonable inferences against defendant. State v. Guerra, 161 Ariz. 289, 293, 778 P.2d 1185, 1189 (1989). If substantial evidence exists to support the verdict, we will not disturb the jury's decision. By substantial evidence we mean evidence that would convince an unprejudiced thinking mind of the truth of the fact to which the evidence is presented. See State v. Tison, 129 Ariz. 546, 553, 633 P.2d 355, 362 (1981). As we stated in Tison, If reasonable [persons] may fairly differ as to whether certain evidence establishes a fact in issue, then such evidence must be considered as substantial. Tison, 129 Ariz. at 553, 633 P.2d at 362. We therefore review the record to determine whether, from the evidence presented, a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crimes of kidnapping and felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Mincey, 141 Ariz. 425, 432, 687 P.2d 1180, 1187 (1984). Applying this standard, we hold that substantial evidence exists to support both the kidnapping and murder convictions. A. The Kidnapping In his brief, defendant contrasts evidence presented by the prosecution with conflicting evidence presented by the defense. For example, defendant stresses that the victim's mother testified that the victim would not have gone with a stranger voluntarily, yet no one near the scene heard a child scream or heard sounds suggesting that an accident had occurred between the victim's bike and defendant's automobile. Defendant also emphasizes that some witnesses claimed to have seen the victim at a local mall several hours after she disappeared. In addition, defendant notes that no evidence was found in his car to suggest that the victim had ever been inside it. This court has held that [r]eversible error based on insufficiency of the evidence occurs only where there is a complete absence of probative facts to support the conviction. State v. Scott, 113 Ariz. 423, 424-25, 555 P.2d 1117, 1118-19 (1976). Viewed in this light, our review of the record convinces us that the state presented ample evidence to permit the jury rationally to conclude that defendant kidnapped the victim. The following evidence is particularly damning:  Defendant was in the neighborhood on the afternoon the victim disappeared, a fact made virtually unquestionable by Sam Hall's sighting of a 280Z with license plates registered to defendant and his identification of defendant as the driver.  Testimony from one of the teenage boys placed defendant at the intersection where the victim's bike was found.  Prosecution experts testified, albeit not without disagreement from defendant's own experts, that paint and nickel transfers between the vehicle and the bike indicated that the two had come in contact, and that damage to defendant's car was consistent with striking a bicycle.  Three witnesses identified defendant and testified that they had seen a young child riding with him in his car.  Defendant's letters revealed his sexual attraction to young children. Defendant contends that, under the doctrine of corpus delicti, the state should have been precluded from introducing his letters to Bernsienne until it had established a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti of kidnapping through independent evidence. We disagree. Two elements comprise the corpus delicti of a crime: (1) the basic injury, which in this instance is the disappearance of a young girl, and (2) the fact that the basic injury was the result of a criminal, rather than a natural or accidental, cause. State v. Thomas, 78 Ariz. 52, 59, 275 P.2d 408, 413 (1954). In Arizona, the prosecution must establish a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti before it may introduce defendant's extrajudicial confession or admission as additional evidence of the crime. See State v. Gillies, 135 Ariz. 500, 506, 662 P.2d 1007, 1013 (1983); State v. Janise, 116 Ariz. 557, 559, 570 P.2d 499, 501 (1977). We note initially that even if defendant's letters to Bernsienne were admissions requiring corroboration under the corpus delicti doctrine, see Udall, Arizona Law of Evidence § 179 (1960), the evidence presented to the jury, independent of the statements in the letters, established  at the very least  a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti. When viewed as a whole, the circumstances of the child's disappearance, the expert testimony concerning the paint and nickel transfers, and the eyewitness testimony placing defendant in the neighborhood and in a 280Z with a young child would easily satisfy the requirement of proof independent of an extrajudicial confession or admission to create an inference that the victim's disappearance was the result of kidnapping. We do not believe, however, that the state was required to satisfy the corroboration rule in this case. Defendant's letters to Bernsienne were written before the victim was kidnapped, and the law is well-established that pre-offense statements do not require corroboration because they contain none of the inherent weaknesses of admissions made after the fact. See Warszower v. United States, 312 U.S. 342, 347, 61 S.Ct. 603, 606, 85 L.Ed. 876 (1941); United States v. Soulard, 730 F.2d 1292, 1298 (9th Cir.1984); Ogden v. United States, 303 F.2d 724, 742 (9th Cir.1962). Because defendant's written statements to Bernsienne were written before Mary was kidnapped, and because they tended to establish the corpus delicti of kidnapping and were relevant as tending to show motive, defendant's letters to Bernsienne were properly admitted at the time they were admitted. Of course, establishing the corpus delicti of the crime does not satisfy the requirement of proving defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Based on our review of the record, however, we find that the evidence presented also was sufficient to justify the jury's guilty verdict on the kidnapping charge. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, certainly a juror presented with this evidence would not be unreasonable in concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant kidnapped the victim. B. The Murder Defendant further argues that, even if sufficient evidence exists to support the kidnapping conviction, the state cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered the victim. The jury convicted defendant of felony murder pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-1105, which, in this case, requires proof that defendant kidnapped the victim and that, in the course of and in furtherance of the kidnapping, he caused the victim's death. Defendant contends, however, that the state failed to establish the corpus delicti of murder and that his murder conviction is therefore invalid. Under the corpus delicti doctrine, the state must prove that (1) the victim died and (2) the death was caused by criminal agency rather than suicide or accident. See Perkins, The Corpus Delicti of Murder, 48 Va.L.Rev. 173, 181-82 (1962). The state has satisfied the first corpus delicti requirement  Mary's remains were discovered in April 1985. Dr. Walter Birkby, a forensic anthropologist who positively identified the remains, confirmed this tragic fact. Because only a skull, mandible, and various other scattered bone fragments were recovered, Dr. Birkby and Dr. Richard Froede, the Pima County Medical Examiner, were unable to determine the cause of death. Defendant therefore argues that, even if he did kidnap Mary, no proof exists that he murdered her. He asserts that the state failed to establish that she did not die by accident or fall victim to foul play from an unknown superseding party. Defendant cites passages from several cases stating, in essence, that the presence of a dead body does not necessarily equate with murder. We fully agree. History is replete with macabre cases in which human remains are discovered and no evidence exists to suggest how the victim met his or her demise. This, however, is not such a case. Although authorities were unable to determine exactly how the victim died, proving the cause of death is not a necessary element of corpus delicti. See People v. Bolinski, 260 Cal. App.2d 705, 715, 67 Cal. Rptr. 347, 353 (1968). The record reveals extensive circumstantial evidence satisfying the corpus delicti requirement. See State v. Lantz, 72 Ariz. 115, 119, 231 P.2d 454, 456-57 (1951) (corpus delicti may be shown by circumstantial evidence); McCormick on Evidence § 145, at 368 (3d ed. 1984) (same). A young girl disappears from her neighborhood and later is found dead in the desert. This fact alone suggests the presence of criminal activity, for, given the facts of this case, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine that the child left a residential area, crossed a freeway, traversed a river bed, and went voluntarily to a sparsely populated desert location several miles from her home. Although we cannot know from the facts presented at trial exactly what happened to the victim when she was taken to the desert, we do know that (1) defendant, a convicted pedophile, was seen within yards of the girl literally seconds before she vanished; (2) witnesses identified defendant as the man they saw driving with a young child in his car; (3) defendant was seen later that afternoon with blood on his hands and clothing; and (4) defendant was also seen with cactus needles in his arms and legs. To demonstrate criminal agency, the state must establish that the victim's death was not caused by suicide or accident. In this case, of course, the latter possibility is the only legitimate alternative to murder. We conclude that the evidence presented, although circumstantial, plainly negated the possibility that the victim died as the result of an accident. We therefore hold that the state's evidence created a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti of murder. Janise, 116 Ariz. at 559, 570 P.2d at 501. With this requirement satisfied, the jury properly could consider defendant's admissions. These statements further substantiated the state's theory in this case and, coupled with the evidence already discussed, satisfied the final element in establishing murder  proving beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant killed the victim. After defendant's friends at De Anza Park noticed the blood on his hands, he told them that he had stabbed a man in a drug transaction and that he had taken the victim's body to the desert. He repeated this story several times during the next few days as he and McDonald traveled to Texas. Defendant also told McDonald and Parisien that he had gotten cactus needles in his arms and legs when he returned to the location where he left the body to retrieve keys he had dropped. Defendant also discussed the idea of disposing of his blood-stained clothes and, during his trip to Texas, he repeatedly sandpapered the blade of his knife. Viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the jury's finding, we conclude that the jury was presented with substantial evidence from which it could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant murdered the victim. We therefore find the evidence sufficient to support defendant's first degree felony murder conviction.