Hunt v. State

374 S.W.3d 241, 2010 Ark. App. 270, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 284
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 31, 2010
DocketNo. CA CR 09-1047
StatusPublished

This text of 374 S.W.3d 241 (Hunt v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunt v. State, 374 S.W.3d 241, 2010 Ark. App. 270, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 284 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge.

| Appellant Antonio Hunt appeals his May 27, 2009 conviction by a Lonoke County Circuit Court jury on charges of residential burglary and theft of property, for which he was sentenced as an habitual offender to two thirty-year terms of imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction to be run consecutively. On appeal, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction. We affirm.

Facts

On January 12, 2009, Michael Krablin returned to his house in Lonoke County at approximately 4:20 p.m. and discovered that his house had been burglarized. The perpetrators forcibly entered the residence, caused significant damage to the interior of the house, and stole a Nintendo Wii game system and various accessories, CDs, DVDs, a video camera, and a fireproof safe containing various documents including vehicle titles, tax papers, |?social-seeurity cards, bank statements, and a marriage license. Mr. Krablin telephoned authorities, and Deputy Jared Turner from the Lonoke County Sheriffs Office responded at approximately 4:45 p.m. While there, Deputy Turner received a call from Deputy Dale Sipes of the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office, at which time he was informed that officers had caught the perpetrators and located some of the stolen items. Deputy Turner and Mr. Krablin drove to the reported location where they found all the electronic equipment as well as the safe. The perpetrators had broken into the safe and were in the process of burning the papers when they were apprehended. Mr. Krablin was able to identify the papers because the names still could be made out on some of them.

Pulaski County deputies detained the three male individuals, including appellant, on a dead-end road in the McAlmont area of Little Rock, Arkansas, at approximately 5:09 p.m. They noticed a car parked at the end of the street, with two males standing outside the car near a fire, and appellant sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The fire was near an open safe and was being used to burn the various documents taken from Mr. Krablin’s house. All the other stolen items were located inside the vehicle in which appellant was sitting.

Upon returning the stolen items to Mr. Krablin later the same evening, Deputy Turner discovered a videotape in the video camera that appeared to be footage that was shot from the perpetrators’ vehicle of a direct route from Mr. Krablin’s house to the McAlmont area where the items and perpetrators were apprehended. The date and time on the video corresponded with the date and approximate time that the break-in occurred; however, none of the | .^individuals arrested were seen on the video footage. Deputy Turner kept the videotape as possible evidence.

Captain Steve Finch of the Lonoke County Sheriffs Department processed appellant on January 14, 2009, including Mirandizing and interviewing him. Captain Finch showed appellant the video recording, and appellant acknowledged that it was his voice that was heard on the audio portion of the tape. He also indicated that he had driven the car to the Krab-lin residence and that the other two individuals went inside the house and brought the items that were stolen back to the car. He also acknowledged that after the items had been put into the car, the three of them drove to the McAlmont area where they were eventually apprehended. The interview, which lasted approximately forty minutes, was not recorded by Captain Finch. Prior to the interview with Captain Finch, appellant made a contradictory statement to law-enforcement officials, indicating that he had obtained the stolen property by purchasing it from someone.

The State filed a criminal information on February 4, 2009, alleging that appellant committed the offense of residential burglary, a Class B felony, in violation of Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-89-201 (Repl.2006), theft of property of $2,500 or more, a Class B felony, in violation of Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-36-103 (Repl.2006), and that he was subject to a sentence enhancement as an habitual offender, pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-501 (Repl.2006).

|4A jury trial was held on May 27, 2009, at which time Mr. Krablin, Deputy Sipes, Deputy Turner, and Captain Finch testified for the State. After the State rested, appellant’s counsel moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to prove that he was actually an accomplice and aided anyone else in the burglary or that he actually entered the residence with the purpose of committing an offense punishable by imprisonment. The circuit court denied the motion. The defense rested without presenting any additional evidence and renewed the motion for directed verdict. The motion was again denied. The jury returned guilty verdicts on both charges, and the resulting judgment and commitment order was filed on May 27, 2009. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal on June 24, 2009, and this appeal followed.

Standard of Review

A motion for a directed verdict is treated as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Coggin v. State, 356 Ark. 424, 156 S.W.3d 712 (2004). The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Evidence is substantial if it is of sufficient force and character to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion, and pass beyond suspicion and conjecture. Id. On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, considering only that evidence that supports the verdict. Id.

Weighing the evidence and assessing the credibility of the witnesses are matters for the fact-finder. Bush v. State, 90 Ark.App. 373, 206 S.W.3d 268 (2005). The jury is free to | r,believe all or part of any witness’s testimony and resolves questions of conflicting testimony and inconsistent evidence. See Gikonyo v. State, 102 Ark.App. 223, 283 S.W.3d 631 (2008). Reconciling conflicts in the testimony and weighing the evidence are matters within the exclusive province of the jury. See Mitchem v. State, 96 Ark.App. 78, 238 S.W.3d 623 (2006).

Discussion

Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-39-201(a)(1) provides that a person commits residential burglary if he or she enters or remains unlawfully in a residential occupiable structure of another person with the purpose of committing in the residential occupiable structure any offense punishable by imprisonment. Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-36-103(a)(l) provides that a person commits theft of property if he or she knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person, with the purpose of depriving the owner of the property-

Appellant does not dispute that Mr. Krablin’s residence was burglarized or that property was taken from it. Instead, he asserts that the evidence is insufficient to prove that he acted as an accomplice to the burglary and theft.

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Related

Bush v. State
206 S.W.3d 268 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2005)
Leach v. State
831 S.W.2d 615 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1992)
Navarro v. State
264 S.W.3d 530 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2007)
Gikonyo v. State
283 S.W.3d 631 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2008)
Coggin v. State
156 S.W.3d 712 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2004)
Gilcrease v. State
2009 Ark. 298 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2009)
Mitchem v. State
238 S.W.3d 623 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2006)
Daniels v. State
821 S.W.2d 778 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1992)
Barber v. State
374 S.W.3d 709 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2010)

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Bluebook (online)
374 S.W.3d 241, 2010 Ark. App. 270, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunt-v-state-arkctapp-2010.