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Roberts v. State

The defendant admitted to two witnesses and the police that he shot the victim during an attempted robbery.

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Damien Durant Roberts appeals from his convictions in connection with the death of Gustavo Martinez Hernandez “Martinez”.1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm. Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Martinez, on a bicycle, encountered an automobile in which Roberts was a passenger. Roberts asked Martinez for money; when Martinez said he had none, Roberts shot him once in the chest with a .22 caliber pistol. Martinez rode his bicycle a short distance before falling. Martinez later died.

1. Roberts contends that the evidence presented by the State was not sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. But, there was a considerable body of evidence proving that Roberts committed the crimes. An eye-witness testified that he saw Martinez speaking to an occupant of a car, then heard a shot, saw Martinez try to peddle the bicycle away, and then fall to the ground. One witness testified that the night of the shooting, Roberts told him that: while he was a passenger in a car, he and the driver saw a Hispanic man on a bicycle; they resolved to rob him; Roberts produced a .22 caliber pistol and asked the Hispanic man for money; he responded that he did not have any; Roberts shot the Hispanic man with the pistol; and Roberts told the driver to “drive.” This witness also testified that he helped Roberts dispose of a .22 caliber pistol in a lake. Another witness also testified that, shortly after the shooting, Roberts told him that, while in the passenger seat of a car driven by a friend, he used a .22 caliber pistol to shoot and kill a Hispanic on a bicycle. Additionally, the State introduced a videotape of Roberts’s statement, during which he admitted to shooting Martinez with a .22 caliber pistol.

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