Opinion ID: 2384458
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, as appellee, we hold that the evidence was more than sufficient to uphold Martin's conviction. According to the testimony of Mary Kay Taylor, on December 26, 1992, she was working the 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift at the E-Z Mart convenience store in Hope Arkansas. At about 7:40 p.m., a man, whom she described to police as black, five feet, nine inches tall, with a mustache, hair close to his head, a brown jacket, dark pants, and a plaid shirt, came into the store. He brought a Pepsi to the counter, got a dollar from his pocket, and placed it on the counter. He then put his right hand in his pocket, as if he had a gun, and said, Freeze or you're dead. She did freeze, and the robber reached with his other hand over the counter, grabbed all the money out of each slot of the cash register, and headed for the door. As Ms. Taylor moved toward the phone, the robber said, I told you not to move. I'll kill you. Frightened, she stopped until he went out the door and around the corner. Once he was out of sight, Ms. Taylor called the police. When they arrived, she recounted the events of the evening, emphasizing that while he removed the money, he kept his hand in his pocket as though holding a gun; it was her insistently stated belief that he had a gun. Sergeant Stan Bailey, a member of the Hope Police Department, testified that he was working as patrol supervisor when he received a radio dispatch shortly after the robbery to look for a black male, five feet, nine inches to five feet, ten inches in height, and weighing 140 to 150 pounds. About seven blocks from the E-Z Mart, the sergeant saw a dirty, beat up Ford pickup truck parked on the street. The missing glass window on the driver's side had been replaced with a piece of plastic. A black male was sitting in the passenger side of the truck accompanied by a black female who was standing beside the vehicle. Sergeant Bailey approached them and asked them if they had seen anyone fitting the description he had just received, to which they responded, No. Later, Sergeant Bailey heard that the robber was supposed to be in an old pickup with plastic on the driver's window. At that point, he contacted Officer Zeke, told him about his contact with the vehicle, and asked him to go to the Shover Village apartment complex to attempt to locate the vehicle. Acting on the information he received from Sergeant Bailey, Officer Zeke drove to Shover Village, where he spotted a pickup matching the description of the truck. Because the registration check on the truck revealed that it was registered to a Jewel Muldrew, a man for whom warrants were outstanding, Officer Zeke initiated a traffic stop and found that the driver was Martin. Officer Zeke told him that there were active warrants out for the car's owner and that a truck matching that description had possibly been involved in an aggravated robbery. He did not arrest Martin, however, because he did not have a warrant for him. Detective Gary Wayne Billings explained that after Officer Zeke informed him about stopping Martin, he obtained the photo spread which included Martin's photograph and took it to the E-Z Mart, where Ms. Taylor identified Martin. Later that evening, Sergeant Bailey examined the photo spread and also identified Martin. Based, in part, on Ms. Taylor's and Sergeant Bailey's identification of the suspect, a warrant was issued for Martin's arrest, and he was picked up. The photo spread was introduced into evidence. Officer Bailey's testimony placing Martin near the scene of the robbery shortly after it occurred and Ms. Taylor's unequivocal testimony identifying Martin as the culprit are sufficient to sustain the appellant's conviction. Luckey v. State, 302 Ark. 116, 787 S.W.2d 244 (1990).