Higginbotham v. Com., No. 741120
| Docket Nº | No. 741120 |
| Citation | 216 Va. 349, 218 S.E.2d 534 |
| Case Date | October 10, 1975 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Virginia |
Page 534
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
Page 535
William P. Harris, Lynchburg, for plaintiff in error.
Alan Katz, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Andrew P. Miller, Atty. Gen., on brief), for defendant in error.
Before I'ANSON, C.J., and CARRICO, HARRISON, COCHRAN, HARMAN, POFF and COMPTON, JJ.
HARMAN, Justice.
Epoch Tacoma Higginbotham (defendant or Higginbotham) was tried and convicted by a jury of robbery and first degree murder and his punishment was fixed at a total of 40 years confinement in the state penitentiary. Sentences were pronounced by the trial court on these verdicts. We granted a writ of error to review the defendant's claim that the evidence adduced at trial is insufficient to sustain his convictions.
Fredrick Allen Sechrest, Jr. (Sechrest), who was employed at Little Joe's Mini Market (Little Jose's) in Amherst County, was [216 Va. 350] robbed and murdered at his place of employment on the afternoon of January 1, 1974. The Commonwealth's evidence against the defendant was wholly circumstantial.
Kenneth B. Waller (Waller), who subsequently discovered Sechrest's body, saw Sechrest standing near some 'drink boxes' outside Little Joe's between 4:18 and 4:20 p.m. as Waller drove by the store. He blew his horn and 'waved at (Sechrest)' who 'waved back.' There were no cars in Little Joe's lot at that time. Waller drove his car into the parking lot of a shopping center 'almost directly across' the highway from Little Joe's. He entered a store in the shopping center where he remained for 'probably five minutes.' Reentering his car, Waller drove to the highway where he stopped and waited for 'a couple of cars to go by.' He then drove across the highway and entered Little Joe's lot. A blue Chevrolet owned by Randolph Thomas (Thomas) entered the lot at approximately the same time Waller arrived there. Upon his arrival, Waller observed only one parked car, a 'brownish-tan Dodge', in the lot. As Waller 'pulled up and stopped', a man that Waller could not identify, 'came out of the store and went by (Waller's) car.'
Page 536
Waller and Thomas entered the store together. Waller testified: 'When I got in the store I didn't see anybody, so I walked about halfway down the aisle in front of the door. I didn't see anybody at the back so I came back up the front. Then I saw the cash register opened and looked over (the counter) and saw (Sechrest) laying in the floor.' Waller further testified: He was laying face down and blood was coming out of his back.' Waller 'glanced' at the open cash register and saw 'nothing but change.' He then used the store telephone to report to the sheriff's office what he had discovered. Waller and Thomas remained at the store until the arrival of a deputy sheriff a short time later.
Deputy Sheriff B. W. Bailess testified that he arrived at Little Joe's at 4:33 p.m. in response to a radio call from the sheriff's dispatcher at 4:30 p.m. When he entered the store Deputy Bailess found Waller, Thomas and two other men waiting there. Bailess did not see Sechrest's body until he was told to look behind the counter. He looked at the body, which was lying face down behind the cashier's counter near the front of the store, and observed two gunshot wounds, one of which was 'about the head' and the other 'in the back--upper part of the back, down below the neck.' Bailess testified that he noticed that the drawer of the cash register was open. His testimony shows that the store had only one usable entrance.
[216 Va. 351] Henry Brockman, another deputy sheriff who participated in the investigation, testified that there was only one usable entrance to the store and that the other doors were 'fixed' so that they could not be opened and that the store windows were 'secured' by the use of screens and bars. Brockman participated in the defendant's arrest 'after midnight' on January 2 at the defendant's apartment in nearby Lynchburg. He testified that he did not 'find a gun', although he was looking for one, either on the defendant's person or in his apartment.
Don Wayne Doyle testified that he had worked at the store from 8:00 a.m. until he was relieved by the victim. Around 3:00 p.m. Doyle had ascertained that the cash register contained several checks, $720 in bills and an undetermined amount in coin. When Doyle left Little Joe's at 4:10 p.m., the victim and three lady customers were in the store. As Doyle drove away from the store, he observed that only one car remained in the parking area.
Allen Theodore King testified that on the afternoon of January 1 he was riding with the defendant in...
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Morrisette v. Com., Record No. 020323
...also accord the Commonwealth the benefit of all inferences fairly deducible from the evidence. Id. (citing Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 A. GUILT PHASE When Dorothy White did not report for work on the morning of July 25, 1980, two of her co-workers bec......
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Hodges v. Com., Record No. 0120-04-2.
...to the Commonwealth, granting to the evidence all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975). The credibility of a witness, the weight accorded the testimony, and the inferences to be drawn from proved facts a......
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Billips v. Commonwealth, Record No. 0172-05-3.
...I. BACKGROUND Viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party below, see Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975), the evidence presented at trial established that, on May 10, 2003, Billips was living with his aunt and uncle, Wa......
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Iglesias v. Com., No. 0651-86-2
...or that he intended to distribute it. We examine the evidence in accordance with the standard set forth in Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 Where the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged after conviction, it is our duty to consider it in the light mos......
-
Morrisette v. Com., Record No. 020323
...also accord the Commonwealth the benefit of all inferences fairly deducible from the evidence. Id. (citing Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 A. GUILT PHASE When Dorothy White did not report for work on the morning of July 25, 1980, two of her co-workers bec......
-
Hodges v. Com., Record No. 0120-04-2.
...to the Commonwealth, granting to the evidence all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975). The credibility of a witness, the weight accorded the testimony, and the inferences to be drawn from proved facts a......
-
Billips v. Commonwealth, Record No. 0172-05-3.
...I. BACKGROUND Viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party below, see Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975), the evidence presented at trial established that, on May 10, 2003, Billips was living with his aunt and uncle, Wa......
-
Iglesias v. Com., No. 0651-86-2
...or that he intended to distribute it. We examine the evidence in accordance with the standard set forth in Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 Where the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged after conviction, it is our duty to consider it in the light mos......