It is not within the purview of this court to undermine that assessment. The defendant cites State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 11, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987), to assert that we will reverse a judgment “where the state's evidence is improbable and unconvincing....” The defendant, however, has mischaracterized the holding of Cobbs. In Cobbs, the Supreme Court held the evidence insufficient to sustain a conviction for felony murder because the state failed to produce any evidence that the murder occurred in the course of and in furtherance of the underlying felony—other than that the two crimes involved the same participants and victim—and therefore the record revealed “absolutely no evidence from which a trier of fact could reasonably have concluded, without resort to speculation or conjecture, that this element of the crime was established.”
State v. Mandrell, 199 Conn. 146, 154, 506 A.2d 100 (1986); State v. Haddad, 189 Conn. 383, 387, 456 A.2d 316 (1983); State v. Brice, 186 Conn. 449, 459, 442 A.2d 906 (1982); State v. Jackson, 176 Conn. 257, 262, 407 A.2d 948 (1978); State v. Brunori, 22 Conn. App. 431, 435, 578 A.2d 139, cert. denied, 216 Conn. 814, 580 A.2d 61 (1990). . . . [The trier's] findings of fact are entitled to great weight and . . . a conviction based on the facts found by the trier will be affirmed if the trier of fact 'could reasonably have inferred [from the evidence] that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 7, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987); State v. Mandrell, supra, 153-54; State v. Scielzo, 190 Conn. 191, 196, 460 A.2d 951 (1983); State v. D'Antuono, supra, 421; State v. Perez, 182 Conn. 603, 607, 438 A.2d 1149 (1981)." State v. Osman, 218 Conn. 432, 436, 589 A.2d 1227 (1991).
We must not invade the province of the jury by weighing the evidence or by resolving questions of the credibility of witnesses. State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 6-7, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987). "We do not sit as a thirteenth juror who may cast a vote against the verdict based upon our feeling that some doubt of guilt is shown by the cold printed record."
Although I agree that Womble's statement was properly admitted for substantive use, the evidentiary foundation upon which the defendant's conviction rests is insufficient to sustain the verdict. State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 13, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987) (insufficient evidence to prove defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt). For the first time, this court today affirms a criminal conviction that rests solely on an uncorroborated inconsistent statement, which was not subject to contemporaneous cross-examination.
The evidence construed in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict; State v. Sinclair 197 Conn. 574, 576, 500 A.2d 539 (1985); is insufficient to support the finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, even if we assume the fire was incendiary — that is, intentionally set. In making our determination of whether the evidence was sufficient to convict the defendant, we place great weight on the trial court's decision on the motion to set aside the verdict and the motion for judgment of acquittal; State v. Cobbs. 203 Conn. 4, 13, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987); but its decision does not carve the conviction in stone. "The trial court's findings of fact are not conclusive, however, and we will reverse a judgment where the state's evidence is improbable and unconvincing and where all the facts found are insufficient to prove the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt."
We then decide whether, upon the facts thus established and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, the trial court or the jury could reasonably have concluded that the cumulative effect of the evidence established the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Weinberg, 215 Conn. 231, 253, 575 A.2d 1003 (1990); State v. Rollinson, 203 Conn. 641, 665-66, 526 A.2d 1283 (1987); State v. Garrison, 203 Conn. 466, 471, 525 A.2d 498 (1987); State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 6-7, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987). In this case, the trial court could reasonably have concluded that the defendant committed the homicide on the basis of its factual findings that the defendant was discovered at the scene of the crime, close to the victim's body, covered with her blood, shortly after she had been stabbed by a knife that belonged to him.
We also acknowledge that the trial court's findings of fact are entitled to great weight and that a conviction based on the facts found by the trier will be affirmed if the trier of fact "could reasonably have inferred [from the evidence] that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 7, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987); State v. Mandrell, supra, 153-54; State v. Scielzo, 190 Conn. 191, 196, 460 A.2d 951 (1983); State v. D'Antuono, supra, 421; State v. Perez, 182 Conn. 603, 607, 438 A.2d 1149 (1981). The trial court's findings of fact are not conclusive, however, and We Will reverse a judgment where the state's evidence is improbable and unconvincing and where all the facts found are insufficient to prove the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.
It is axiomatic that in reviewing a claim of insufficiency of the evidence, this court construes the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict and will affirm that verdict if it is reasonably supported by the evidence and the logical inferences drawn therefrom. State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 7, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987); State v. Cates, 202 Conn. 615, 627, 522 A.2d 788 (1987). There is no legal distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence as far as probative force is concerned.
Unlike in Turner, where the defendant gave the principal the weapon in advance of the crime, in this case the most the evidence suggests is that Wilson acquired the weapon in the midst of the struggle between the victim and the defendant. See State v. Green, supra, 261 Conn. at 671–73, 804 A.2d 810; State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 13, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987) (evidence insufficient to sustain conviction of felony murder where no witness claimed to have seen defendant commit any crime, no knife was recovered from defendant and no proceeds of underlying robbery were discovered on defendant); compare State v. Foster, 202 Conn. 520, 536, 522 A.2d 277 (1987) (evidence sufficient to convict defendant of criminally negligent homicide as accessory where defendant intentionally aided principal by giving him knife); State v. Harris, 49 Conn.App. 121, 131–32, 714 A.2d 12 (1998) (evidence sufficient to sustain conviction of manslaughter as accessory where defendant was gang leader, defendant gave weapon to gang member and directed him to shoot victim). Thus, we conclude that there was insufficient evidence that the defendant intentionally aided Wilson in shooting the victim.
(Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Cobbs, 203 Conn. 4, 11, 522 A.2d 1229 (1987). "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt requires that the evidence exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. . . . But the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean that the proof must be beyond a possible doubt, and a possible hypothesis or supposition of innocence is far different from a reasonable supposition. . . . Emphasis needs to be placed on the distinction between the word reasonable and the word possible. . . . Proof of guilt must exclude every reasonable supposition of innocence . . . [while a] mere possible hypothesis of innocence will not suffice."