AC 23502 | Conn. App. Ct. | Jun 22, 2004
Opinion
The defendant, Eddie Lewis, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a trial to the court, of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (4) and threatening in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-62. On appeal, he claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The court reasonably could have found the following facts. On January 25, 2001, the defendant entered a Carvel’s store in West Hartford wearing a black leather jacket, a mask and a black hood pulled up over his head. The supervisor on duty immediately recognized him as the same individual who had applied for a job in the store two days prior to the robbery. She later shared that observation with the police. According to
The supervisor later recognized the defendant’s photograph in the March 3, 2001 edition of the Hartford Courant as the man who had robbed the store on January 25, 2001. She brought the newspaper to work and showed the photograph to the other employee, who had worked on the night of the incident. They both agreed that the photograph was that of the man who had robbed the store. The supervisor contacted the police and shared her discoveiy with them.
At trial, the defendant testified that he was an acquaintance of the supervisor’s husband and that the two had met sometime in 2000 to perform a drug trans
The defendant testified that he had spent the afternoon of January 25, 2001, at the supervisor’s house with her husband to discuss another attempt at taking the store’s money. He further testified that he never intended to rob or to threaten anyone: “My mindset was that all I was doing was just going to walk in the store and just walk back to where [the supervisor was]. She was there where she gave me the money, and I walked out. My mindset wasn’t going into the establishment and threaten by force or rob the establishment.” According to the defendant, the supervisor’s husband told the defendant that the supervisor had been made aware of the plan on the evening of January 25, 2001, before the event was to occur. The court found the defendant guilty of both offenses and sentenced him to fourteen years of incarceration followed by six years of special parole. This appeal followed.
On appeal, the defendant claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction of robbery in the first degree and threatening in the second degree.
“The standard of review we apply to a claim of insufficient evidence is well established. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction we apply a two-part test. First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the [finder of fact] reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. . . .
“While . . . every element [must be] proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to find the defendant guilty of the charged [offense], each of the basic and inferred facts underlying those conclusions need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. . . . [I]n determining whether the evidence supports a particular inference, we ask whether that inference is so unreasonable as to be unjustifiable. . . . [A]n inference need not be compelled by the evidence; rather, the evidence need only be reasonably susceptible of such an inference.
“Intent may be, and usually is, inferred from the defendant’s verbal or physical conduct. . . . Intent may also be inferred from the surrounding circumstances.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Moore, 82 Conn. App. 267" court="Conn. App. Ct." date_filed="2004-03-30" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/state-v-moore-7861621?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7861621">82 Conn. App. 267, 270-71, 843 A.2d 652" court="Conn. App. Ct." date_filed="2004-03-30" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/state-v-moore-7861621?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7861621">843 A.2d 652, cert. denied, 269 Conn. 904" court="Conn." date_filed="2004-05-12" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/state-v-moore-7848660?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7848660">269 Conn. 904, 852 A.2d 734" court="Conn." date_filed="2004-05-12" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/state-v-bookless-7848657?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7848657">852 A.2d 734 (2004). “If there is conflicting evidence . . . the fact finder is free to determine which version of the event
Section 53a-134 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of robbery in the first degree when, in the course of the commission of the crime of robbery as defined in section 53a-133 or of immediate flight therefrom, he or another participant in the crime ... (4) displays or threatens the use of what he represents by his words or conduct to be a pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or other firearm . . . .” General Statutes § 53a-133 defines robbery as follows: “A person commits robbery when, in the course of committing a larceny, he uses or threatens the immediate use of physical force upon another person for the purpose of: (1) Preventing or overcoming resistance to the taking of the property or to the retention thereof immediately after the taking; or (2) compelling the owner of such property or another person to deliver up the property or to engage in other conduct which aids in the commission of the larceny.” Larceny is defined in relevant part by General Statutes § 53a-119 as follows: “A person commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner. ...”
Sufficient evidence was adduced at trial, as we have set out, on which the court reasonably could have concluded that the state had proven every element of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. There was testimony that the defendant entered the store on January 25, 2001, armed with a gun, wearing a mask and a black hooded sweatshirt pulled up over his head. He informed the supervisor that he was robbing the store. Both employees at the store saw the defendant’s gun. According to the supervisor, the defendant showed her the firearm and warned her that “you don’t want to have to die for somebody else’s money . . . .” He demanded that the supervisor lead him to the store’s safe. After being subjected to the defendant’s threat and display of a gun, the two employees complied with his demands. The defendant pulled the second employee by the shirt as all three walked to the back of the store. He then took money from the store’s safe and cash register and promptly left.
With respect to the defendant’s claim of an “inside job,” the court found the following: “There is ... no credible evidence that [the supervisor] was involved. Additionally, there was no credible evidence that the defendant had reason to believe that she was involved or had foreknowledge of the intended larceny and robbery.” There was ample evidence in the record for the court reasonably to conclude that the supervisor was an innocent victim. The court was free to determine
After having construed the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, we determine that on those facts and the inferences reasonably drawn from them, the court reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established the defendant’s guilt of both offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, we uphold the defendant’s conviction of robbery in the first degree and threatening in the second degree.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The defendant’s full name is Edward Preston Lewis.
At trial, the supervisor described her exchange with the defendant as follows: “[H]e said something about you don’t want to have to die for somebody else’s money or something like that. And then he said, take me to the safe. So, I was like, you bet, let’s go, and I took him back there to the safe.”