Opinion ID: 2145408
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the Trial Court Properly Imposed Sentence for First-Degree Sexual Abuse.

Text: We agree with Morgan that his conviction for first-degree sexual abuse should be vacated. We so decide because sexual abuse is a lesser offense included in first-degree kidnapping. We begin our analysis with Iowa Code section 701.9 (1993), which reads: No person shall be convicted of a public offense which is necessarily included in another public offense of which the person is convicted. If the jury returns a verdict of guilty of more than one offense and such verdict conflicts with this section, the court shall enter judgment of guilty of the greater of the offenses only. The statute defining first-degree kidnapping states: Kidnapping is kidnapping in the first degree when the person kidnapped, as a consequence of the kidnapping, suffers serious injury, or is intentionally subjected to torture or sexual abuse. Iowa Code § 710.2. In State v. Whitfield, 315 N.W.2d 753, 755 (Iowa 1982), we held that the crime of sexual abuse was included in the offense of first-degree kidnapping when sexual abuse was the foundation for such a charge. Whitfield and Iowa Code section 701.9 control this case. The State, attempting to avoid this result, relies on State v. Holderness, 301 N.W.2d 733, 740 (Iowa 1981). In Holderness, we affirmed convictions for sexual abuse and kidnapping in the first degree when two separate incidents of sexual abuse occurred. First, the defendant kidnapped and sexually assaulted the victim. Then, he transported her to another place and again committed another sexual assault. We approved a lower court decision convicting defendant for sexual abuse for the first sexual assault and first-degree kidnapping for the asportation and second sexual assault. We subsequently have acknowledged the limits of Holderness. In State v. Newman, we held that the rule of merger applied, even though evidence indicated that two sexual assaults took place. 326 N.W.2d 788, 793 (Iowa 1982). We wrote: In the instant case, the matter was tried and submitted to the jury as one continuing event. The State did not prove some sexual acts as a predicate for the kidnapping charge and other such acts as the basis for a separate and distinct crime of sexual abuse nor was the case submitted to the jury that way. Instead the prosecution from start to finish was treated by all concerned as a single episode. The State cannot depart from that course now. Id. (emphasis added). After examining the manner in which these charges were submitted to the jury, we cannot sustain Morgan's sexual abuse conviction. The jury received one standard instruction each on the elements of kidnapping and of sexual abuse. The abduction and sexual assault of Anna Marie was presented to the jury as a single transaction. Although sufficient evidence would support a finding that two sexual assaults took place, one as a predicate for first-degree kidnapping and one as a separate occurrence of sexual abuse, that is not our inquiry under Newman. The jury instructions and verdict forms indicate that the jury considered the evidence as proof of a single chain of events. We vacate that portion of the judgment and sentence relating to the charge of first-degree sexual abuse.