Court Opinion

ID: 9746930
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:45:47.840308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:18.365182
License: Public Domain

PRYOR, Senior Judge,
dissenting:
I readily accept the majority’s statement of facts in this matter and similarly understand that in reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, we customarily view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, giving it the benefit of reasonable inferences.
Yet this case causes me to pause. It is notable in my view because the result is driven, almost imperceptibly, by inference built upon other inferences. Appellant was charged with a less common form of assault: conduct deemed an intentional effort to frighten another. In the prosecution of most criminal offenses, we normally focus on the state of mind of the accused. But in this instance, the guilt of the accused, depends, in part, on the subjective perceptions of the complaining witness. Thus on the barest of evidence, where, it seems to *202me, that more attention has been given to the complainant’s perceptions than the mens rea required of appellant, we are ultimately urged to give the prosecution the benefit of all inferences.
In an urban setting which includes a diverse range of many different types of people, it is undoubtedly true that appellant, a homeless person, and the complainant, a resident of an affluent section of the city, had a harsh encounter in an alley. However, when we look, on balance, at what happened, the government, in order to prevail, can only depend on a network of inferences. Even applying the customary litmus, the evidence is, in my opinion, insufficient. What we have is an unfortunate argument between two citizens which has been transformed into three criminal convictions. I respectfully dissent.