The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled surveillance video didn’t have to be sharply focused to support a Black Hawk County man’s conviction on a burglary and firearm charge. Dwight May was found guilty in June of last year of breaking into a coworker Michael McSwain’s car at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo and stealing a handgun.
And along with that was convicted of being a felon in possession of a handgun. McSwain had planned to sell the gun to May, but decided not to after he learned May was a convicted felon.
Surveillance video from the plant showed May leaving and later returning around the time of the car break-in. Another camera showed grainy video of someone wearing a uniform like the one May wore smashing the window of the car. May appealed his conviction saying the grainy video was not sufficient evidence to convict him.
The appeals court agreed with May that the video footage is not clear enough to identify him as the burglar, but said it does narrow the field of suspects to someone like May who wore orange gloves and a white hard. And the court said the other video provided strong enough circumstantial evidence to show May’s whereabouts during the crime and there was no reason to overturn the jury’s verdict.
See the complete ruling here: May ruling PDF
