State v. Billings

LANSING, Judge.

Randal Ray Billings was convicted of aggravated battery and aggravated assault as a consequence of firing his shotgun into the ground near two men. Pellets from the second shot ricocheted off the ground and struck one of the men. Billings appeals the aggravated battery conviction, contending that the trial evidence was insufficient to prove guilt because it did not show that Billings intended to strike the victim.

I

BACKGROUND

On Christmas Day, 1993, Rex Merchant was attending a late afternoon Christmas dinner at the home of his brother-in-law and neighbor, Art Foss. During…