State v. Bradbury

Syllabus

Convicted, after a jury trial, of the crimes of criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection with the shooting of the victim, the defendant appealed to this court. The jury found the defendant not guilty of the crimes of assault in the first degree and criminal attempt to commit robbery in the first degree, and the defendant claimed that, in light of the jury's not guilty finding on those charges, there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction as demon- strated by the inconsistency of the jury's verdict. Held that the defendant could not prevail on his claim that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction, as his attempt to obtain review of the legal inconsistency between a conviction and an acquittal by recasting it as a claim of evidentiary insufficiency did not change the nature of his claim, and this court considered only whether the state presented sufficient evidence to support the defendant's conviction: the victim testified that he saw the defendant with a gun in his hand and that, immediately thereafter, he heard a gunshot and realized he had been shot, the defen- dant stipulated to the fact that he did not have a gun permit and that he was a convicted felon, and the defendant conceded that, if the jury believed the victim's testimony, there was sufficient evidence to convict him of the charges he challenged on appeal; moreover, the defendant's argument that the jury's not guilty verdict on the assault and robbery charges meant that the jury necessarily rejected the victim's testimony in its entirety was unavailing under long-standing case law. Argued January 16—officially released March 17, 2020