Opinion ID: 2220705
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the evidence was sufficient to support the guilty verdict of davis.

Text: Davis made motions for judgments of acquittal at the conclusion of the State's case, following his case, and as a post trial motion for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the verdict. Davis claims that the evidence is insufficient as a matter of law to support the judgment. The trial court denied his motions. In considering a motion for acquittal the trial court must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and must give the nonmoving party the benefit of all reasonable inferences in his favor. State v. Bonrud, 393 N.W.2d 785, 789 (S.D.1986). On appeal, we accept the evidence and the most favorable inferences that the jury might have fairly drawn from the evidence to support the verdict. State v. Haase, 446 N.W.2d 62, 65-66 (S.D.1989). Davis was convicted by circumstantial evidence. We have stated: The established rule in this state is that to warrant conviction upon circumstantial evidence alone, such facts and circumstances must be shown as are consistent with each other and with guilt of the party charged, and such as cannot by any reasonable theory be true and the party charged be innocent. This rule does not mean the evidence must be such as to exclude every possible hypothesis of innocence. Rather, it requires only the exclusion of the reasonable hypothesis of innocence. State v. Esslinger, 357 N.W.2d 525, 530-31 (S.D.1984) (citations omitted). At trial, the State presented expert testimony that tool marks found on a door from the burglary at the Centennial Cafe in Harrold, South Dakota were made by the crowbar found in the trunk of the vehicle in which Krebs and Davis were riding the night they were arrested. Additionally, expert testimony was presented that the shoe prints found at the Longbranch Bar in Artesian, South Dakota and the Centennial Cafe in Harrold, South Dakota were made by shoes worn by Krebs and Davis when they were arrested. The State introduced as evidence the miniature bottles of liquor and the Miller Bank bag full of pennies recovered from Krebs' vehicle. The trial court found the evidence introduced, if reasonably believed by a jury was sufficient to find Davis guilty of the crime charged. The trial court's decision to deny Davis' motion for judgment of acquittal was proper.