State v. Arillo, 87-400
| Decision Date | 28 December 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-400,87-400 |
| Citation | 553 A.2d 281,131 N.H. 295 |
| Parties | The STATE of New Hampshire v. Sherman T. ARILLO. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
The defendant was convicted following a jury trial in Superior Court (Pappagianis, J.) as an accomplice to armed robbery, and sentenced to serve from 3 to 7 years in prison. The defendant appeals on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he was a voluntary and active participant in the robbery. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
The following facts are contained in the record. On October 11, 1983, at approximately 7:00 p.m., the defendant entered the Bright Spot Variety Store on East Dunstable Road in Nashua. He purchased some candy from Leonard Boucher, the owner of the store, and left. About twenty minutes later, a man named James "Shorty" Mason, whom the owner recognized as a regular customer, entered the store, followed by the defendant.
Mr. Boucher was reading some mail at the time, and had his back to the two when he heard Mason say, Boucher thought that Mason was playing a practical joke on him, so he casually responded, "I have no money here." Catching some movement out of the corner of his eye, Boucher then looked up and saw Mason stepping back, lifting a rifle, and pointing it toward his head. Boucher saw the defendant standing beside Mason. The defendant said nothing during the course of this interaction. After a very short period of time, Mason lowered the rifle and, with it, pushed the defendant toward the door. The two left without taking any money and got into a car, where two others, Richie Matthews and Daryl "Leroy" Franklin, had been waiting. As they drove off, Boucher took down the license plate number, and he then contacted the police. While driving from the scene, Franklin and Mason began to argue, and eventually Franklin pulled the car over to the side of the road, dragged Mason out of the car, and the two began to fight. While this was going on, the defendant got out of the car and ran off.
Later that same evening, the police arrested Mason, whose interview assisted the police in determining that the defendant might have been a participant in the robbery. At about 1:30 a.m. the police went to the defendant's residence, where the defendant told the police that he knew he should not have been with Mason, and that he had told Mason not to use the rifle. The defendant said that he did not know why he had gotten involved because he did not need the money, and that he knew it was a stupid thing to do. The police then arrested the defendant and brought him to the Nashua police headquarters, where the defendant signed a written confession, which was later entered into evidence, in which he revealed the following sequence of events leading up to the robbery.
Prior to the robbery, the defendant had been driving around Nashua with Matthews and Franklin. At some point, Matthews had stated that he wanted money and that he and Franklin would get it "anyway [sic] that they could," including by robbery. The three men then drove to Mason's house in order to obtain Mason's gun. Matthews and Franklin entered Mason's house, while the defendant waited outside. Matthews, Franklin, and Mason reappeared with a rifle and joined the defendant in the car. Driving around Nashua again, the four men discussed possible hold-up sites. After ruling out two other locations, Mason suggested the Bright Spot Store. They then parked at the store, and while the...
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State v. Merritt
...challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, we examine the record in the light most favorable to the State. See State v. Arillo , 131 N.H. 295, 297, 553 A.2d 281, 282 (1988). In December 1995, the defendant and his girlfriend, Kelly Higgins, had been living together for eighteen months. Hig......
- State v. Reynolds, 87-340
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State v. Merritt
...challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, we examine the record in the light most favorable to the State. See State v. Arillo, 131 N.H. 295, 297, 553 A.2d 281, 282 (1988). In December 1995, the defendant and his girlfriend, Kelly Higgins, had been living together for eighteen Higgins was ......
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State v. Laudarowicz
...viewed most favorably to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt, see State v. Arillo, 131 N.H. 295, 297, 553 A.2d 281, 282 (1988), that the defendant acted with the specific purpose to facilitate commission of the charged offenses. See State v. Good......
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§ 30.04 Accomplice Liability: Assistance
...v. State, 604 P.2d 222, 239 (Alaska 1979) (furnishing fuses used to destroy a structure as part of a burglary).[46] E.g., State v. Arillo, 553 A.2d 281, 283 (N.H. 1988).[47] E.g., Commonwealth v. Hatchin, 709 A.2d 405, 410 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1998). [48] State v. V.T., 5 P.3d 1234, 1236 (Utah C......
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§ 30.04 ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY: ASSISTANCE
...State, 604 P.2d 222, 239 (Alaska 1979) (furnishing fuses used to destroy a structure as part of a burglary).[46] . E.g., State v. Arillo, 553 A.2d 281, 283 (N.H. 1988).[47] . E.g., Commonwealth v. Hatchin, 709 A.2d 405, 410 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1998).[48] . State v. V.T., 5 P.3d 1234, 1236 (Utah......
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TABLE OF CASES
...773 (N.H. 2004), 451 Antick, People v., 539 P.2d 43 (Cal. 1975), 500 Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), 71 Arillo, State v., 553 A.2d 281 (N.H. 1988), 443 Armitage, People v., 194 Cal. App. 3d 405 (Ct. App. 1987), 182 Asher, Commonwealth v., 31 N.E.3d 1055 (Mass. 2015), 218 Atsbeh......