Sufficiency of Evidence

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Joel Rivera

Case No.: 18-1187

Officials: KANNE, SCUDDER, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

A jury convicted Joel Rivera of aiding and abetting a pair of Hobbs Act robberies and his friend’s use of a firearm during them. The same jury, however, acquitted him of, or deadlocked on, counts related to three other robberies. Rivera moved for a judgment of acquittal on the four counts of conviction, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to show that he knew in advance that his friend, Antonio Thomas, would commit the armed robberies or to show that he assisted Thomas during them. Alternatively, he asked for a new trial on the ground that the jury should have disregarded Thomas’s testimony—the key evidence at trial—because Thomas was an unbelievable witness and the remaining evidence was too weak to support the convictions. Because the evidence was sufficient and the district judge reasonably concluded that concerns about Thomas’s credibility did not warrant a new trial, we affirm the judgment.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.