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State v. Durenleau9/30/1994
ALLEN, C.J. Defendant Rebecca Durenleau appeals her conviction following a jury trial for the first-degree murder of her husband, Michael Durenleau. Defendant contends that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to establish her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We agree and reverse.
Defendant claims a number of errors on appeal, but in light of our Disposition of this case we consider only her claim regarding insufficiency of the evidence. At the close of the State's case and after trial, defendant unsuccessfully moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to V.R.Cr.P. 29, which provides, in relevant part, that "the court on motion of a defendant . . . shall order the entry of judgment of acquittal . . . if the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction." In reviewing a denial of a Rule 29 motion, this Court must determine whether the evidence presented by the State, taken in the light most favorable to the prosecution and excluding any modifying evidence, sufficiently and fairly supports a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Poirier, 142 Vt. 595, 599, 458 A.2d 1109, 1111 (1983); see also State v. Robar, 157 Vt. 387, 391, 601 A.2d 1376, 1378 (1991). The evidence must be examined both for its quality and strength; evidence "that gives 'rise to mere suspicion of guilt, or guilt uncertain or dependent upon conjecture' is insufficient." Robar, 157 Vt. at 391, 601 A.2d at 1378 (alteration in original) (quoting State v. Partlow, 143 Vt. 33, 37, 460 A.2d 454, 456 (1983)).
At trial, the State proceeded on the theory that defendant aided or incited her lover, Harmon Olmstead. To convict defendant, the prosecution had to prove that Olmstead unlawfully killed Michael Durenleau, wilfully and deliberately, with premeditation, and that defendant aided or incited him in that killing. See 13 V.S.A. § 2301 (defining first-degree murder); id. § 3 ("A person who aids in the commission of a felony shall be punished as a principal."); id. § 4 ("A person who is accessory before the fact by counseling, hiring or otherwise procuring an offense to be committed may be . . . convicted . . . as if he were a principal offender. . . ."); see also State v. Miller, 146 Vt. 164, 175, 502 A.2d 832, 839 (1985) (jury must conclude beyond reasonable doubt that preconceived plan to murder existed in which defendant participated). For purposes of Discussion, we assume that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Olmstead unlawfully killed Michael Durenleau wilfully and deliberately, with premeditation.* We recount the facts relevant to defendant's participation in the light most favorable to the State, excluding modifying evidence. Defendant carried on an adulterous affair with Olmstead starting in mid-1984. She had filed for divorce in August 1984 to be free to marry Olmstead, but expressed concern to her mother that she might lose the house and custody of the children in the process. Defendant dropped the suit, but she and her husband were separated during two periods before his death while the affair ensued. At one point in late 1984, defendant said to a friend that she wouldn't have so many problems if her husband were dead. Defendant also knew that her husband had a life insurance policy naming her as beneficiary. She claimed not to know that the death benefit had been increased in the spring of 1985, but the insurance agent who arranged the increase testified that defendant was aware of the policy's status.
Around that same time, spring 1985, defendant told her mother she was going through with the divorce to marry Olmstead. At some point before the homicide, defendant told Olmstead that she would resume sexual relations with her husband unless Olmstead "proved himself." In Ju
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