Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
About
This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.
Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.
Instructions
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Criminal Offenses > Kidnapping & Related Offenses > Kidnapping > Multiple Convictions > Other Multiple Conviction Issues
The State conceded and the court held that by sentencing the defendant for both first-degree kidnapping and the underlying sexual assault that was an element of the kidnapping charge a violation of double jeopardy occurred.
The trial court erred by convicting the defendant of both first-degree kidnapping and the sexual assault that raised the kidnapping to first-degree. The trial court instructed the jury that to convict defendant of first-degree kidnapping, it had to find that the victim was not released in a safe place, had been sexually assaulted, or had been seriously injured. The jury returned guilty verdicts for both first-degree kidnapping and second-degree sexual offense but did not specify the factor that elevated kidnapping to first-degree. The court concluded that it must construe the ambiguous verdict in favor of the defendant and assume that the jury relied on the sexual assault in finding the defendant guilty of first-degree kidnapping.
A defendant may be convicted of assault inflicting serious bodily injury and first-degree kidnapping when serious injury elevates the kidnapping conviction to first-degree.