Jeffrey York V. Tate

Per Curiam. In this appeal from the district court's order granting habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, we are called upon to consider the proper application of the constitutional standard used for reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence presented in a state court criminal prosecution resulting in a conviction. In Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 99 S. Ct. 2781 (1979), the Supreme Court instructed federal courts sitting in habeas to determine "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond reasonable doubt." 443 U.S. at 319 (emphasis in original). In the instant case, the district court ruled that the Jackson standard must be applied in conjunction with the Ohio common law rule which provides that where "circumstantial evidence alone is relied upon to prove an element essential to a finding of guilt, it must be consistent only with the theory of guilt and irreconcilable with any reasonable theory of innocence." State v. Kulig 37 Ohio St. 2d 157, 309 N.E.2d 897, 899 (1974). Applying the Kulig rule in the instant case, the district court decided upon reconsideration to grant the petition for a writ of habeas corpus since, according to the district court, the petitioner's theory of innocence was plausible and was not necessarily precluded by the circumstantial evidence.