Opinion ID: 670754
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The robbery charge

Text: 12 An investigation of the credit union after the robbery revealed fingerprints of both defendants. Furthermore, the testimony of Julie Jackson connected the defendants to the robbery. Defendant Anderson's fingerprints were found on the inside of the front door of the credit union as well as on the teller counter. The surveillance video revealed that the prints on the counter came from the exact location where the robber placed his hand during the robbery. Anderson claims that because he was in the credit union the day before, with his brother, he must have made the fingerprints then. The jury obviously disagreed. It was permitted to draw the reasonable inference that, because Anderson's fingerprint was found in the location where the robber placed his hand during the robbery, Anderson must have been the robber. 13 Defendant Moore's fingerprints were found on the loan office door, the same door that the second robber was holding during the robbery. Moore claims that he must have made the fingerprint while he was in the credit union earlier that morning, asking for a job application. That visit was recorded by the video tape, which shows that Moore did not touch the loan office door at that time. The jury was thus reasonably permitted to conclude that Moore left the fingerprint during the robbery. The video tape of Moore's trip to the credit union on the morning of the robbery also showed that he was looking around the credit union. Because he claimed to be seeking a job application, but rather looked all around the area and left before obtaining the application, the jury could reasonably conclude that he was casing the area in preparation for the robbery. 14 Julie Jackson testified that on the morning of the robbery she saw the defendants cleaning guns and counting a large amount of cash. The defendants now argue that Julie Jackson was an incredible witness. This court has said on occasions far too numerous to count that [t]he credibility of witnesses is peculiarly within the province of the jury and our review of credibility is prohibited absent extraordinary circumstances. United States v. Noble, 754 F.2d 1324, 1332 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 818, 106 S.Ct. 63, 88 L.Ed.2d 51 (1985). To be incredible as a matter of law, the testimony must be incredible on its face, it must be 'impossible under the laws of nature for the occurrence to have taken place at all.'  United States v. Hernandez, 13 F.3d 248, 252-53 (7th Cir.1994) (quoting United States v. Dunigan, 884 F.2d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir.1989)). 15 The testimony of Julie Jackson is entirely plausible under the laws of nature. She testified that the defendants came to Moore's residence after the robbery and counted large sums of money. Jackson asked them where they obtained the money. Moore responded that they had robbed Wagner's Credit Union. 1 Later they sent Jackson to a friend's house to pick up guns, which they subsequently emptied and cleaned. They both commented that they wanted to watch the news to see if the police had any suspects in the robbery. Nothing about this testimony is incredible on its face and the jury was entitled to accept it. The government thus presented sufficient evidence from which a rational jury could conclude that both defendants were guilty of the armed robbery of the credit union.