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Dennis v. State

The defendant stole the victim's purse from her car in a gym parking lot and sped off in a vehicle with an expired tag.

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Following a jury trial, Darrick Dennis was convicted on counts of entering an automobile with intent to commit theft,1 theft by receiving,2 speeding,3 failure to wear a seat safety belt,4 driving an automobile without a current license plate,5 and driving an automobile without a driver’s license.6 He appeals his convictions and the denial of his motion for new trial, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be construed in a light most favorable to the verdict and Dennis no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence.” Punctuation omitted. Berry v. State .7 In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we do not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility, but only determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia .8

So viewed, the record shows that on the morning of July 22, 2006, Suzanne Ledgerwood drove to her local gym and left her white purse in her vehicle while she attended a fitness class. Shortly thereafter, Dennis drove his vehicle to the parking lot of the same gym, parked, and exited his vehicle while his passenger waited in the front seat. After two or three minutes, he returned to his vehicle, flung Ledgerwood’s white purse, which he admitted to just having stolen, onto the passenger side floorboard in front of his passenger’s feet, and sped off from the gym parking lot. A short time later, Ledgerwood returned to her vehicle to find that one of its windows had been smashed and that her purse had been stolen. The gym’s manager immediately called the police to report the break-in and theft.

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