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State v. Bridgewater6/21/2002
ON REHEARING
On January 15, 2002, a majority of this Court determined that the evidence against Roy Bridgewater was insufficient to support the jury's finding of first degree murder, but sufficient, only, to support a second degree murder conviction. We granted rehearing to reconsider the State's contention that the evidence presented at the trial of Roy Bridgewater was sufficient for the jury to convict him of first degree murder and impose a penalty of death by lethal injection. Upon further review, we agree with the State. The evidence presented at trial was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to determine that Roy Bridgewater did commit the crime of first degree murder in violation of La. Rev. Stat. 14:30. Additionally, we find no error in defendant's other assignments which would warrant a reversal of the conviction or penalty imposed by the jury.
LAW AND ANALYSIS
Sufficiency of the Evidence
In his appeal, the defendant argued that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of first degree murder because there was no direct evidence that he fired a gun or that he was present when the shots were fired, and that the circumstantial evidence presented by the State did not exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. This Court, on our original hearing, determined that the evidence was insufficient to support a first degree murder conviction, but was sufficient to support a conviction for second degree murder because defendant conceded that he entered the Beaugh residence with the specific intent to commit an aggravated burglary, and a killing did take place during the aggravated burglary. We now reverse that ruling and determine that the evidence submitted to the jury was sufficient to support a finding that defendant had specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm and, hence, defendant was appropriately found guilty of first degree murder by the jury before which he was tried.
As expressed in the original opinion, "in reviewing the sufficiency of evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court in Louisiana is controlled by the standard enunciated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed. 2d 560 (1979) ... he appellate court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La. 1984). When circumstantial evidence is used to prove the commission of the offense, La. Rev. Stat. 15:438 requires that "assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence." The circumstantial evidence rule is not a separate test from the Jackson standard but "provides an evidentiary guideline for the jury when considering circumstantial evidence and facilitates appellate review of whether a rational juror could have found defendant guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Wright, 445 So.2d 1198, 1201 (La. 1984).
In the instant case, the State alleged that defendant was guilty of first degree murder because (1) he had specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm and was engaged in the perpetration of an aggravated burglary and/or armed robbery, La. R.S. 14:30(A)(1); (2) that he had a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon more than one person, La. Rev. 14:30(A)(3); or (3) that the offender had the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon a victim who was sixty-five years of age or older, R.S. 14:30(A)(5).
We note that specific intent may be inferre
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