Robbery – Sufficiency of the Evidence

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Four men shoved a disoriented 82-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease into a wall and stole $800 from his billfold. Witnesses identified appellant, who was charged with and found guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery. Appellant appealed from his conviction and sentence, arguing that the eyewitness testimony was insufficient to prove him guilty, that the District Court failed to properly instruct the jury on the aggravated sentencing factors, and that the evidence does not establish particular vulnerability as a valid sentence-enhancement factor. The Court of Appeals held that the evidence of appellant’s guilt was abundant and the District Court did not plainly err in its instructions to the jury on the sentencing findings. But it reversed in part and remanded for resentencing because it is undisputed that the jury’s particular-vulnerability finding lacked an essential element to support the upward sentencing departure. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

A12-1091 State v. Hussein (Hennepin County)

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