King v. State

Appellant asserts that we should reverse the circuit court's judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of burglary of the Arkansas State Police Headquarters in Little Rock on the night of August 2, 1971. Although he states the contention in two points, his principal argument is that there was not sufficient evidence to corroborate the testimony of Robert Prather, who, according to Prather, was an accomplice. We find the corroborating evidence to be sufficient to support the jury verdict and affirm the judgment. There is no real dispute between the parties as to the applicable law. Our basic applicable statute on the subject [Ark. Stat. Ann. 43-2116 (Repl. 1964)] was a part of our Criminal Code and has been construed so many times that there is little room for argument about its requirements. The principal difficulties in this regard arise from application of the statute. By its own language, the statute only requires that there be corroboration by evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense and that this evidence go beyond a showing that the crime was committed and the circumstances thereof. We have, therefore, consistently held that the corroborating evidence need not be sufficient in and of itself to sustain a conviction, but it need only, independently of the testimony of the accomplice, tend in some degree to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime. Lauderdale v. State, 233 Ark. 96, 343 S.W.2d 422; Shipp v. State, 241 Ark. 120, 406 S.W.2d 361; Fleeman v. State, 204 Ark. 772, 165 S.W.2d 62.