Court Opinion

ID: 9505618
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:13:13.33746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:39.534833
License: Public Domain

RUCKER, Justice,
dissenting
I recognize of course our familiar standard for reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence needed to support a criminal conviction. For such claims we neither reweigh evidence nor judge witness credibility. Perry v. State, 638 N.E.2d 1236, 1242 (Ind.1994). We consider only the evidence supporting the judgment and any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from such evidence. Taylor v. State, 681 N.E.2d 1105, 1110 (Ind.1997). We will affirm a conviction if there is substantial evidence of probative value such that a reasonable trier of fact could have concluded the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. Nonetheless, we are duty bound to sift and probe the evidence to determine whether it is sufficient to prove each and every element of the crime and to determine whether the inferences made are reasonable. As Justice Hunter declared over three decades ago:
[I]f as a result of our probing and sifting the evidence most favorable to the State, we determine that the residue of facts is so devoid of evidence of probative value and reasonable inferences adduceable therefrom, as to preclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, we should so declare. A failure to do so is a rejection of our duty as an appellate tribunal and tantamount to the enunciation of a rule that any evidence no matter how infinitesimal or inferences drawn therefrom, whether based on speculation or conjecture, would be sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Liston v. State, 252 Ind. 502, 250 N.E.2d 739, 743-44 (Ind.1969). After probing and sifting the evidence in this case I am convinced the facts most favorable to the State do not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Houston is guilty or murder. At most, the evidence shows that he was merely present at the crime scene. I therefore dissent and would reverse the judgment of the trial court.