 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Otero1/24/2002
t proposition because the state's witnesses were unequivocal in describing defendant as the aggressor. Here, "defendant essentially argued that the trial justice should have believed his testimony rather than the testimony of the state's witnesses." Banach, 648 A.2d at 1368. We have consistently held, however, that "it is the task of the trial justice to determine whether the evidence presented is sufficiently credible to warrant a new trial." Id. (citing Fontaine v. State, 602 A.2d 521, 524 (R.I. 1992)). As was the case in Banach, "defendant has failed to demonstrate that the trial justice was clearly wrong in his assessment" of the credibility of the state's witnesses. 648 A.2d at 1368. Therefore, we affirm the trial justice's denial of defendant's motion for a new trial.
Legal Sufficiency of the Evidence
Although defendant's appeal was fashioned in terms of the denial of his motion for a new trial, his appeal rested on a claim that the evidence presented by the prosecution was legally insufficient to support a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a claim more appropriately raised through a motion for a judgment of acquittal. Diaz, 654 A.2d at 1200. This Court previously has recognized that once a trial or appellate court has determined that the evidence offered by the prosecution in a criminal case was legally insufficient to support conviction as opposed to factually insufficient, then the double jeopardy clause bars retrial of the defendant, and the appropriate remedy is acquittal rather than a new trial. State v. Laperche, 617 A.2d 1371, 1373 (R.I. 1992) (citing Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978) and Greene v. Massey, 437 U.S. 19, 98 S.Ct. 2151, 57 L.Ed.2d 15 (1978)).
In reviewing a claim of legal sufficiency of the evidence in the context of a motion for a judgment of acquittal, this Court applies the same standard as that applied by the trial court, namely, " must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, * * * giving full credibility to the state's witnesses, and draw therefrom all reasonable inferences consistent with guilt." State v. Snow, 670 A.2d 239, 243 (R.I. 1996). Clearly, " he standard applied to a motion for judgment of acquittal requires less in the way of evidence than the standard applicable to a motion for a new trial." State v. Salvatore, 763 A.2d 985, 989 (R.I. 2001). Having concluded that the evidence presented in this case was sufficient to withstand the more stringent review applicable to a motion for a new trial, it follows that the evidence was also sufficient to withstand a motion for a judgment of acquittal.
Conclusion
For these reasons, we deny and dismiss the defendant's appeal, and we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court, to which we return the papers in the case.
|