J’Shawn Lemar Durham “Durham” and his brother, J’Quan Levar Durham “J’Quan”, were jointly indicted for criminal attempt to commit burglary Count 1. Durham also was charged with two counts of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer. J’Quan’s trial was severed, and Durham’s trial resulted in his conviction on all counts. He was sentenced to serve ten years on Count 1 and twelve months concurrent on Count 2. Count 3 was merged with Count 2. On appeal from the denial of his motion for new trial, Durham contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict of acquittal on the charge of attempted burglary. We disagree and affirm. “The standard of review for the denial of a motion for directed verdict of acquittal is the same as for determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction.”1 Under that standard, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence. We do not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility, but only determine if the evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt.2 Properly viewed, the evidence adduced at trial shows that on August 21, 2002, Sharonda Lavant and her sister were asleep on Lavant’s couch when they were awakened by a knock on the front door of her apartment. Lavant looked through the peephole and saw two men who were unfamiliar to her. One man was knocking on her door, and the other man was knocking on her next door neighbor’s door. Eventually the knocking stopped, and Lavant went to her kitchen window and watched the men walk around the apartment of her neighbor, Lorraine Rodrigues. Lavant overheard the men talking; they were discussing how to get into Rodrigues’s apartment. Lavant heard Durham say that they could get in through the window. When the men walked onto Rodrigues’s porch, Lavant called the police. While on the phone with the authorities, Lavant heard a window breaking in Rodrigues’s apartment.
The police officer who responded to the scene, Jeffrey Richter, testified that Lavant gave him a description of the suspects, and they were apprehended a short time later. The suspects were brought to Lavant for a show-up identification. Lavant identified them on the scene, and she identified Durham at trial. At the scene, Richter spoke to Durham, who stated that his name was James Smith. Richter walked around Rodrigues’s apartment, observed the broken window, and found a rock at the base of it. The rock was admitted into evidence.
