Stokes v. State

An officer found the defendant at home shortly after the accident, the defendant's truck was in the driveway, the truck's hood was still warm and the defendant matched the victim's description of the driver, who hit his car.

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Brian Stokes appeals from his convictions of habitual violator, leaving the scene of an accident, following too closely, and driving too fast for conditions. He contends the State presented insufficient circumstantial evidence that he was the driver of the truck that left the scene of an accident. We find no merit in this contention and affirm. The correct rule for determining the sufficiency of the evidence in convictions based entirely on circumstantial evidence is that questions as to reasonableness are generally to be decided by the jury which heard the evidence and where the jury is authorized to find that the evidence, though circumstantial, was sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt, the appellate court will not disturb that finding, unless the verdict of guilty is unsupportable as a matter of law. It is the role of the jury to resolve conflicts in the evidence and to determine the credibility of witnesses, and the resolution of such conflicts adversely to the defendant does not render the evidence insufficient. Citations and punctuation omitted. Brooks v. State , 281 Ga. 514, 515-516 1 640 SE2d 280 2007. The State presented evidence showing that the victim’s car was struck in the rear by a Ford F150 truck driven by a white non-Hispanic man between 20 and 35 years of age with “closely cropped hair,” a moustache, and “a shorter stature.” When the driver of the truck did not stop, the victim followed it and obtained the license tag number before driving home. The victim lived a mile and a half away and called the police as soon as he arrived home.

At 8:25 p.m., a patrol officer received a dispatch about a hit and run accident and drove to the victim’s address where he learned the tag number for the truck that left the scene of the accident. After spending about five minutes talking to the victim, the officer drove to the address on file for the truck, the home of Brian Stokes and his wife. The truck was registered in the name of Stokes’s wife.

Stokes v. State

An officer found the defendant at home shortly after the accident, the defendant's truck was in the driveway, the truck's hood was still warm and the defendant matched the victim's description of the driver, who hit his car.

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