Opinion ID: 848860
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: application of principle

Text: When analyzing whether sufficient evidence has been presented to sustain a criminal conviction, this Court reviews the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecutor and determines whether any rational trier of fact could have found that the essential elements of the crime were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Nowack, 462 Mich. 392, 399-400, 614 N.W.2d 78 (2000). In that case, the Court articulated that this standard of review is deferential: a reviewing court is required to draw all reasonable inferences and make credibility choices in support of the jury verdict. Id. at 400, 614 N.W.2d 78. The transactional view of robbery, as explained in this opinion, and in light of the facts and charges presented to the jury, supports defendant's conviction in the instant case. The record establishes that the Meijer security guards observed defendant commit a larceny when he concealed items that he had taken from a Meijer's department store and proceeded to leave the store without paying for them. The security guards continued to surveil defendant during this entire transaction, from the moment he took the property and concealed it until the altercation in the parking lot. During their observation of defendant, the security guards continued to exercise protective custody and control over the property. That is, the security guards had the authority and the right to take it back. Thus, the property was for all purposes in [the] presence of the guards. MCL 750.530. As security guards for the property's owner, Meijer's Inc. these guards had a right and the authority to regain possession of the property. In the moments prior to the confrontation, defendant had a choice either to surrender peacefully or to attempt to remove the property from their presence by force, in this particular case, by assault. He chose the latter, and his conduct thereby evidenced an intent to forcefully and permanently deprive Meijer's of its property. By assault, defendant robbed the security guards of property that was in their presence. It is at the moment when the defendant turned to force (which caused one of the guards to suffer a fractured bone in her face and two broken teeth) that his intent to deprive the owner of its property and the use of force merged to satisfy the elements of the crime of robbery.