What is the duty of the trial court to annul a verdict in a sexual assault case?

It was not the trial court's duty to say whether there was "a miscarriage of justice" (a rhetorical term whose metaphorical force may exaggerate what must be found in order to set aside the verdict). The court's duty was to determine whether the evidence was "sufficient to sustain a conviction." Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 29. If it was not sufficient, the court had no choice but to annul the verdict. A "mere modicum" of evidence making the existence of each element of the crime more probable than not was not the kind of evidence that could sustain a conviction. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. at 320, 99 S.Ct. at 2789-90. Where the evidence did not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant was entitled to acquittal. Id.