Opinion ID: 172105
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Urbano challenges both his crack possession and his firearm possession convictions on sufficiency of the evidence grounds. In reviewing a challenge to a jury verdict based upon sufficiency of the evidence, this court is obligated to construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. United States v. Doddles, 539 F.3d 1291, 1293 (10th Cir.2008). The verdict will be upheld as long as  any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime[s] beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. (quotation omitted). Here, ample evidence supported both convictions. As for the crack, it was found in the pocket of the coat Urbano was wearing when he was arrested. Despite his protestation that the crack belonged to someone else, the jury was entitled to believe it was, in fact, his. As for the firearm, multiple officers witnessed Urbano throw an object over the privacy fence. They then searched the yard on the other side of the fence, saw a hole in the ice covering a shallow pond, and found a handgun at the bottom. The only plausible explanation is that the gun was the object Urbano threw into the yard.