Opinion ID: 1145118
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: (8a) Substantial evidence supports defendant's conviction.

Text: Defendant contends that substantial evidence does not support his conviction. The standard for appellate review of whether substantial evidence upholds a conviction has been discussed in many opinions. In view, however, of the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, supra, 443 U.S. 307, and the suggestion that the California standard of appellate review may be inconsistent with Jackson, we think it appropriate here to restate the California standard to demonstrate that it complies with federal constitutional requirements. In Jackson v. Virginia, supra, 443 U.S. 307, the Supreme Court announced a new, constitutionally mandated rule for the review of the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a state criminal conviction challenged in a federal habeas corpus proceeding. Rejecting the previous no evidence rule of Thompson v. Louisville (1960) 362 U.S. 199 [4 L.Ed.2d 654, 80 S.Ct. 624, 80 A.L.R.2d 1355], the court held that the critical inquiry on review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction ... [is] to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. (443 U.S. at p. 318 [61 L.Ed.2d at p. 573, 99 S.Ct. at p. 2789].) Explaining this standard the court said that this inquiry does not require a court to `ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.' [Citation omitted.] Instead the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. (443 U.S. 307, 318-319 [61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789].) California decisions state an identical standard. In People v. Reilly (1970) 3 Cal.3d 421, 425 [90 Cal. Rptr. 417, 475 P.2d 649], for example, we said that The test on appeal is whether substantial evidence supports the conclusion of the trier of fact, not whether the evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citation omitted.] The appellate court must determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found the prosecution sustained its burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Similar language appears in People v. Reyes (1974) 12 Cal.3d 486, 497 [116 Cal. Rptr. 217, 526 P.2d 225]; In re Roderick P. (1972) 7 Cal.3d 801, 808-809 [103 Cal. Rptr. 425, 500 P.2d 1]; People v. Bassett (1968) 69 Cal.2d 122, 139 [70 Cal. Rptr. 193, 443 P.2d 777]; and many other cases. (See In re Frederick G. (1979) 96 Cal. App.3d 353, 363 [157 Cal. Rptr. 769] and cases there cited.) Evidence, to be substantial must be of ponderable legal significance ... reasonable in nature, credible, and of solid value. ( Estate of Teed (1952) 112 Cal. App.2d 638, 644 [247 P.2d 54]; People v. Bassett, supra, 69 Cal.2d 122, 139.) (1b) In determining whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the appellate court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to respondent and presume in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence. ( People v. Mosher (1969) 1 Cal.3d 379, 395 [82 Cal. Rptr. 379, 461 P.2d 659]; People v. Reilly, supra, 3 Cal.3d 421, 425.) The court does not, however, limit its review to the evidence favorable to the respondent. As People v. Bassett, supra, 69 Cal.2d 122, explained, our task ... is twofold. First, we must resolve the issue in the light of the whole record  i.e., the entire picture of the defendant put before the jury  and may not limit our appraisal to isolated bits of evidence selected by the respondent. Second, we must judge whether the evidence of each of the essential elements ... is substantial; it is not enough for the respondent simply to point to `some' evidence supporting the finding, for `Not every surface conflict of evidence remains substantial in the light of other facts.' (69 Cal.2d at p. 138.) (Fn. omitted.) The foregoing principles of judicial review are plainly consistent with Jackson v. Virginia, supra, 443 U.S. 307. Concern respecting the validity of the California standard arises, however, from language in other cases which could be interpreted to suggest that an appellate court should sustain a conviction supported by any evidence which taken in isolation might appear substantial, even if on the whole record no reasonable trier of fact would place credit in that evidence. Justice Elkington, in his dissenting opinion in People v. Blum (1973) 35 Cal. App.3d 515 [110 Cal. Rptr. 833], catalogs a number of examples. He notes, for example, cases which state that the appellate court need only determine whether there is any substantial evidence, contradicted or uncontradicted (35 Cal. App.3d at p. 522), and other cases which indicate that the court should not consider that part of the evidence which would tend to defeat the judgment below ( Id. ). Such language is not necessarily incorrect for it may signify only the rule, recognized in Jackson v. Virginia , that the court should view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (443 U.S. 307, 319 [61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789]). A formulation of the substantial evidence rule which stresses the importance of isolated evidence supporting the judgment, however, risks misleading the court into abdicating its duty to appraise the whole record. As Chief Justice Traynor explained, the seemingly sensible substantial evidence rule may be distorted in this fashion, to take some strange twists. Occasionally he observes, an appellate court affirms the trier of fact on isolated evidence torn from the context of the whole record. Such a court leaps from an acceptable premise, that a trier of fact could reasonably believe the isolated evidence, to the dubious conclusion that the trier of fact reasonably rejected everything that controverted the isolated evidence. Had the appellate court examined the whole record, it might have found that a reasonable trier of fact could not have made the finding in issue. One of the very purposes of review is to uncover just such irrational findings and thus preclude the risk of affirming a finding that should be disaffirmed as a matter of law. (Traynor, The Riddle of Harmless Error (1969) p. 27.) (Fns. omitted.) We do not believe it necessary to disapprove past decisions merely because they contain language which could be misconstrued to permit affirmance based on a standard of review which might contravene Jackson v. Virginia, supra, 443 U.S. 307. We think it sufficient to reaffirm the basic principles which govern judicial review of a criminal conviction challenged as lacking evidentiary support: the court must review the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment below to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence  that is, evidence which is reasonable, credible, and of solid value  such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. (8b) Cognizant of these principles, we turn to examine the record in the present case. Defendant was convicted of the robbery of employees of Jim Dandy Fast Foods chicken restaurant and two of its customers. Ms. Watley, one of the customers, testified that while she was waiting for her order to be filled, she saw three men enter the restaurant. Another man remained outside in a car. One of the men, armed with a shotgun, went to the counter and confronted the sales clerk. Defendant, who was unarmed, and a third man armed with a knife approached Ms. Watley. Defendant turned her around and pushed her against the counter; his companion took her purse. She began to cry. Defendant, trying to reassure her, told her not to cry, that he would try to get her purse back. Defendant's companion tried to remove the bracelet of a customer, Ms. Washington, who was standing next to Ms. Watley. Defendant told him to let the woman remove the bracelet herself; she did so and handed it to defendant's companion. The three men left together in the waiting car. Ms. Horton, the restaurant cashier testified that she instructed the sales clerk to hand over the restaurant's money to the robber armed with a shotgun. She also testified that defendant possessed a knife and that he took wallets and watches from some male customers. Ms. Horton's testimony, however, was exaggerated, and inconsistent in several respects from the testimony she gave at preliminary hearing. Police officers testified that when they stopped the getaway car, three men leapt from the car and escaped. The fourth occupant, defendant Johnson, was apprehended leaving the car. A search of the vehicle uncovered the shotgun, two knives, and Ms. Watley's purse with some of its contents missing. Defendant testified in his own behalf. He said he met the three other men, whom he knew only by surname or nickname, at a liquor store and went with them to Jim Dandy to buy food. To his surprise the two men who accompanied him into the store started to rob the people there. He took no part in the robbery, but merely attempted to reassure and calm the victims. He left with the other men in the car because it was his car, and he did not want them to take it. Even without the testimony of Ms. Horton, the testimony of Ms. Watley and the police officers establish a basis upon which a reasonable trier of fact could conclude that defendant was a participant, albeit an unusually kind participant, in an armed robbery. Defendant's own testimony largely corroborates Ms. Watley; his claim that notwithstanding outward appearances he really did not intend to aid in the robbery presents a defense which a reasonable jury could disbelieve. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the conviction, that is, that a reasonable trier of fact could find defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.