Rambeau v State
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Cite as 2010 Ark. App. 376
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION III
CACR09-1058
No.
JOHN C. RAMBEAU
Opinion Delivered
APPELLANT
V.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
APPELLEE
May 5, 2010
APPEAL FROM THE GARLAND
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
[NO. CR-08-525-1]
HONORABLE JOHN HOMER
WRIGHT, JUDGE
AFFIRMED
JOSEPHINE LINKER HART, Judge
John C. Rambeau was found guilty in a Garland County jury trial of theft of property
valued at more than $500 and breaking or entering. He received concurrent sentences of
twenty-five and ten years respectively in the Arkansas Department of Correction. On appeal,
he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence regarding his identity as the perpetrator of these
crimes. We affirm.
Rambeau was charged by information with stealing a four-wheeler from Lance
Vernor, valued in excess of $500, and with breaking or entering a vehicle, also owned by
Lance Vernor. At trial, Vernor’s fiancée, Melissa Atkinson, testified that on the evening of
August 16, 2008, she drove Vernor’s truck to a convenience store where she purchased
certain items with a twenty-dollar bill. When she returned home, she left the change—a tendollar bill, a one-dollar bill, and some coins—in the truck. Also in the truck that night were
Cite as 2010 Ark. App. 376
a radar detector and a “green sucker” from Regions Bank that had been given to one of her
children. She also noted that her fiancé’s four-wheeler was parked in the yard when she went
to sleep that evening. According to Atkinson, Vernor rose early that morning and discovered
that the four-wheeler was missing.
Atkinson accompanied Vernor in his truck, searching for the four-wheeler.
Approximately two hundred yards from their residence, they encountered an individual lying
in the middle of Geronimo Street. He was wearing blue-jean shorts, a red bandana, and
tennis shoes. Approximately 100 to150 yards farther down the street from the man, they
discovered the four-wheeler on the right side of the road, pushed up under a night-light.
Atkinson called the police using her cell phone. Subsequent to her phone call, she noticed
that the eleven dollars, the radar detector, and the green sucker were missing from the truck.
Ignition wires were stripped on the four-wheeler. According to Atkinson, she had seen
Rambeau previously, “walking up and down the street on several occasions.”
Later, Atkinson found the green sucker and the radar detector just outside of her yard.
She also discovered a muddy footprint from Nike basketball shoes in her yard. Atkinson
noted that when she observed Rambeau that day, he was wearing Nike basketball shoes.
Ignition wires for the four-wheeler were found a short distance away from where they
discovered the vehicle. She noted that Rambeau was arrested shortly after they discovered
the four-wheeler’s location. She admitted that, while searching for the stolen property, she
did not find any cutting tools.
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Vernor corroborated Atkinson’s testimony concerning the discovery of Rambeau in
the street, and the four-wheeler a short distance away. He also confirmed that the wires from
the missing four-wheeler were found at 398 Geronimo, which was on the same street where
he resided. Vernor valued the four-wheeler at between $750 and $1000. Vernor also
confirmed finding a footprint in his yard, and stated that he did not make the mark because
it was too small to fit his feet. Additionally, he was able to establish the time of discovery of
the theft at approximately 4:45 a.m. However, like Atkinson, he admitted that he did not
find any cutting tools in his search for his property.
Connie Payne, Vernor and Atkinson’s neighbor, testified that in the early morning
hours of August 17, 2008, between midnight and two a.m., she was awakened by her dogs
barking. She observed a man wearing a red bandana who was coasting down the road atop
a vehicle that she identified as either a four-wheeler or a lawn mower. Later, he reappeared,
walking back up the road. She noted that he was wearing blue jean shorts as well as the red
bandana. The next morning, Payne learned from Atkinson that someone had stolen some
items that night.
Garland County jailer Gary Davis testified that when Rambeau was booked into his
facility at 5:55 a.m. on August 17, 2008, he was carrying a ten-dollar bill and a one-dollar bill.
Following this testimony, the State rested, and Rambeau moved for a directed verdict,
arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he was the person who had
committed the alleged crimes. The trial court denied the motion, and Rambeau did not
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present any evidence. Rambeau was convicted as charged.
When we review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we must affirm the
trial court if the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Jackson
v. State, 363 Ark. 311, 214 S.W.3d 232 (2005). Substantial evidence is evidence forceful
enough to compel a conclusion one way or the other beyond suspicion or conjecture. Id.
When reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the
light most favorable to the verdict, and we consider only evidence supporting the verdict.
Id.
Where circumstantial evidence alone is relied upon, it must exclude every other reasonable
hypothesis than that of guilt of the accused; otherwise it is not substantial evidence. Id.
Rambeau first argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for
theft of property, because both Atkinson and Vernor testified that he was at least 100 to 300
yards from the four-wheeler, Payne could not positively identify him as the person on the
four-wheeler, and none of the witnesses found knives or other cutting instruments used to
strip the four-wheeler’s ignition wire. We disagree.
First, as noted previously, we do not consider evidence—or lack of evidence—that
would support reversing a conviction. Accordingly, the failure to find the implement that the
thief used to strip the ignition wires is not evidence that we even consider in our review.
Second, and more importantly, the unique combination of facts—Rambeau’s proximity to
the stolen four-wheeler, the identification of a man wearing jean shorts and a red bandana on
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what appeared to be a four-wheeler just a couple of hours earlier, and identification of what
appeared to be Rambeau’s footprint in the yard where the theft occurred, all during early
morning hours—does not require the finder of fact to resort to speculation and conjecture to
conclude that Rambeau stole the four-wheeler. We hold that the evidence was sufficient.
Likewise, Rambeau argues that the circumstantial evidence, finding a ten-dollar bill
and a one-dollar bill on his person, was insufficient proof that he had entered the truck. This
argument, however, ignores the other evidence such as Vernor finding the footprint near the
truck, Rambeau’s proximity to the stolen four-wheeler, which was also located near the
truck, and Payne’s identification of a man dressed in the same manner as Rambeau just hours
before, in relatively close proximity to the truck. As with the theft-of-property count, we
hold that the evidence was sufficient to sustain Rambeau’s conviction for breaking or
entering.
Affirmed.
PITTMAN and BAKER, JJ., agree.
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