People v. Sanford
Annotate this CaseSanford was convicted of second-degree robbery and sentenced to four years in prison after a group of men, reported by witnesses to be African-American, robbed a jewelry store and escaped in two cars. By the time the police located one of the cars approximately 10 minutes after the robbery, Sanford, who is African-American, was a passenger in it. Otherwise, no physical evidence linked him to the robbery, no witnesses were able to identify him, and other, uncontroverted evidence indicated that at least one of the car’s occupants had changed between the time of the robbery and the location of the car by the police. The court of appeal reversed the conviction as not supported by sufficient evidence. The court acknowledged its duty to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, but concluded that the fact that Sanford matched certain attributes of witnesses’ descriptions of the suspects because he is African-American and was wearing dark-colored jeans and sneakers did not constitute substantial evidence of identity.
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