Bihlear v. State

The victim's identified the defendant as one of two men, who robbed a Subway restaurant at gunpoint.

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A Chatham County jury found Christopher L. Bihlear guilty of armed robbery, OCGA § 16-8-41. Bihlear appeals from the order denying his motion for new trial, raising the general grounds and contending that his trial counsel was ineffective. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. Bihlear contends the evidence adduced was insufficient to support his conviction for armed robbery beyond a reasonable doubt. On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to support the jury’s verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, this Court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility. Resolving evidentiary conflicts and inconsistencies, and assessing witness credibility, are the province of the factfinder, not this Court. As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each necessary element of the state’s case, this Court will uphold the jury’s verdict. Punctuation and footnotes omitted. Howard v. State , 291 Ga. App. 289 661 SE2d 644 2008. Viewed in this light, the record reveals the following.

Around 9 p.m. on January 27, 2006, Bihlear and his accomplice, Tanjanika Ford, walked into a Subway restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, and, with guns drawn, demanded the contents of the restaurant’s cash register from a store employee. The employee, who was 16-years-old at the time of the robbery, testified that both robbers were dressed in dark, hooded jackets and that both pointed handguns at him. He gave the robbers the cash drawer, and they snatched about $80 in currency from it. The robbers demanded more money from a vault they believed to be in the back of the restaurant, but, when a second employee who was working in the back of the restaurant bolted out the back door, the robbers left. The employees called the police, and a Subway manager retrieved a videotape from a security camera that had recorded the robbery.

Bihlear v. State

The victim's identified the defendant as one of two men, who robbed a Subway restaurant at gunpoint.

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