State v. Jones, 296 Neb. 494

On March 11, 2009, Gary Holmes was fatally shot by a masked shooter who fired into BJ’s convenience store from the doorway; multiple shots struck Holmes and another customer.
Witness Dontia Bullard saw a young man he knew as “Grimey” (identified at trial as Jones) walk toward BJ’s, then return to a red car carrying a gun and a ski mask shortly after hearing gunshots.
Tysheonna Anthony and other passengers described Jones as angry after an earlier encounter at BJ’s, saw him with a gun and ski mask, observed him change clothes with Maxwell Griffey, and testified Jones later confessed to returning to BJ’s and shooting two men, then burned his clothes.
Additional witnesses corroborated meeting of the two cars and the presence of Jones; fire records and a resident’s testimony corroborated a smoldering mattress fire at the apartment complex minutes after the shooting.
Jones did not testify; his sole trial witness provided a different direction of the fleeing shooter. The jury convicted Jones of first-degree murder and the district court sentenced him to life imprisonment. Jones appealed only on sufficiency of the evidence to identify him as the shooter.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence identifying the shooter	State: Witness testimony (Anthony, Bullard) and corroborating physical and circumstantial evidence sufficiently identify Jones as shooter	Jones: Witnesses’ accounts were uncorroborated, conflicting, and insufficient to prove identity beyond reasonable doubt; asks court to reweigh evidence	Affirmed: Viewing evidence favorably to State, a rational trier of fact could find Jones was the shooter beyond a reasonable doubt

State v. Olbricht, 294 Neb. 974 (Neb. 2016) (articulates standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence in criminal convictions)
State v. Rocha, 295 Neb. 716 (Neb. 2017) (appellate courts do not resolve credibility contests or reweigh evidence)