Opinion ID: 2570218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jury instruction on false imprisonment

Text: Garcia argues that his convictions for false imprisonment in the Silver Dollar robbery must be reversed because the district court did not properly instruct the jury on the elements of the offense. Garcia contends that to convict him of false imprisonment, the jury had to find that the detention of the victims was not incidental to the robbery. Garcia concedes that false imprisonment is a lesser-included offense of the crime of kidnapping, but he argues that because some movement or confinement is inherent in any robbery, punishment for robbery and false imprisonment in this case amounts to a double punishment not contemplated by the Legislature. While Garcia makes a logical argument concerning the need for a companion instruction to the instruction dealing with false imprisonment, he failed to offer a proposed instruction informing the jury that the false imprisonment counts could not be based on facts that are incidental to the charged robbery if a robbery conviction was returned. Failure to offer a proposed instruction in this situation ordinarily waives the issue for appellate review. [1] However, we conclude that convicting Garcia on the attempted robbery charge and also on the false imprisonment charges violates our directive in Jefferson v. State, [2] and we address this issue as plain error. In Jefferson, the defendant told a counter clerk that this [was] a stick up, went behind the counter, and took money from the cash register. He then told the female clerk to go to the back room where she was told to undress and lie on her stomach. The clerk did this, and the defendant then covered her eyes with a piece of cloth and tied her hands and feet. [3] At trial, the defendant was convicted of both robbery and second-degree kidnapping. On appeal, we struck the conviction for second-degree kidnapping because the charge was based on facts that were part of and incidental to the robbery conviction. Specifically we stated: [W]e now hold that where a person has been charged with second degree [kidnapping] and a separate, associated crime, the charge of second degree [kidnapping] will lie only where the movement of the victim is over and above that required to complete the associated crime charged. Applying this test to the case at hand, we do not believe that bringing the victim from the counter to the back room during the course of robbery constitutes movement beyond that required in the robbery. Therefore, the conviction for second degree [kidnapping] must be set aside. [4] We see no difference between the facts of the case at bar and the facts in Jefferson. Garcia attempted to rob three individuals and then directed them to a back room. He did not tie them up, but merely closed the door and attempted to lock them in. Following our holding in Jefferson, we conclude that the facts that are the basis of the false imprisonment convictions are part of and incidental to the conviction of attempting to rob the three individuals taken to the back room. Accordingly, the convictions for false imprisonment must be reversed.