Opinion ID: 1251648
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Failure to Offer Jury Instruction on Lesser-Included Offense

Text: Next, Becerra claims that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to offer a jury instruction on a lesser-included offense of false imprisonment or kidnapping as a Class II felony. The record before this court is insufficient to adequately review the question. See State v. Dawn, 246 Neb. 384, 519 N.W.2d 249 (1994). Even though the record indicates that Becerra's trial counsel did submit two proposed instructions to the court, the proposed instructions have not been made a part of the record on this appeal. At the instruction conference, the trial court asked Becerra's counsel if he had any objections to the court's instructions. Counsel replied by saying, No. I accept them. I did submit two proposed instructions. The court then stated, To the extent they are included in these they are granted. To the extent they are not included they are denied. As previously noted, Becerra did not raise his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the trial court level. When the issue has not been raised or ruled on at the trial court level and the matter necessitates an evidentiary hearing, an appellate court will not address the matter on direct appeal. Id. Without evidence of what instructions were tendered by Becerra's trial counsel, we cannot determine whether the tendered instructions were warranted by the evidence and a correct statement of the law. The State argues that, in any event, Becerra's trial counsel would not have been ineffective for failing to submit to the trial court proposed instructions on first degree false imprisonment or kidnapping as a Class II felony because those offenses were not supported by the evidence presented at trial. Section 28-313(3) states that [i]f the person kidnapped was voluntarily released or liberated alive by the abductor and in a safe place without having suffered serious bodily injury, prior to trial, kidnapping is a Class II felony. Initially, we point out that kidnapping as a Class II felony is not a separate offense from kidnapping as a Class IA felony. State v. Schneckloth, Koger, and Heathman, 210 Neb. 144, 313 N.W.2d 438 (1981). The provisions of subsection (3) are only mitigating circumstances which may reduce the penalty for kidnapping, and the existence or nonexistence of the mitigating circumstances is a matter properly considered by the court at sentencing, not the jury. See id. Therefore, as a matter of law, Becerra was not entitled to a jury instruction on kidnapping as a Class II felony. Moreover, there was no evidence that would support a finding by the trial court at sentencing that Washington was voluntarily released or liberated alive by Becerra. Washington's escape was made possible only through his own efforts and a measure of good fortune. However, given the state of the record, we cannot be as conclusive with regard to a possible instruction on first degree false imprisonment as a lesser-included offense of kidnapping. A court must instruct on a lesser-included offense if (1) the elements of the lesser offense for which an instruction is requested are such that one cannot commit the greater offense without simultaneously committing the lesser offense and (2) the evidence produces a rational basis for acquitting the defendant of the greater offense and convicting the defendant of the lesser offense. State v. Howard, 253 Neb. 523, 571 N.W.2d 308 (1997); State v. Huebner, 245 Neb. 341, 513 N.W.2d 284 (1994); State v. Parks, 245 Neb. 205, 511 N.W.2d 774 (1994). In determining whether an offense is a lesser-included one, a court looks initially not to the evidence in a particular case, but, rather, to the elements of the criminal offense. State v. Howard, supra . The threshold question, therefore, is whether a person can commit the offense of kidnapping without at the same time committing the offense of first degree false imprisonment. A person commits false imprisonment in the first degree if he knowingly restrains or abducts another person (1) under terrorizing circumstances or under circumstances which expose the person to the risk of serious bodily injury or (2) with intent to hold him in a condition of involuntary servitude. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 28-314(1) (Reissue 1995). A person commits kidnapping if he abducts another or, having abducted another, continues to restrain him with intent to (a) hold him for ransom or reward, (b) use him as a shield or hostage, (c) terrorize him or a third person, (d) commit a felony, or (e) interfere with the performance of any government or political function. § 28-313(1). We cannot envision a situation in which a person abducts another and continues to restrain him with the intent to either terrorize him, commit a felony, use him as a shield or hostage, hold him for ransom or reward, or interfere with the performance of a government or political function where the circumstances would not simultaneously be terrorizing or expose the person to the risk of serious bodily injury. Stated another way, it is impossible to commit the greater offense of kidnapping without at the same time having committed the lesser offense of first degree false imprisonment. See, State v. McBride, 252 Neb. 866, 567 N.W.2d 136 (1997); State v. Null, 247 Neb. 192, 526 N.W.2d 220 (1995). It is the intent to terrorize which distinguishes kidnapping from false imprisonment in the first degree. State v. Masters, 246 Neb. 1018, 524 N.W.2d 342 (1994). See, also, State v. Miller, 216 Neb. 72, 341 N.W.2d 915 (1983) (holding that kidnapping requires proof of specific intention, which is not element of false imprisonment). Therefore, first degree false imprisonment is a lesser-included offense of kidnapping. To the extent that the Nebraska Court of Appeals has held that first degree false imprisonment is not a lesser-included offense of kidnapping in State v. Newman, 5 Neb.App. 291, 559 N.W.2d 764 (1997), that holding is expressly overruled. Ordinarily, the analysis would now shift to the second prong of the test, that is, whether the evidence presents a rational basis to support a possible verdict for acquittal of kidnapping and conviction of first degree false imprisonment. However, without evidence of what instructions were tendered by Becerra's trial counsel, we cannot determine whether the tendered instructions were warranted by the evidence and a correct statement of the law. It is also not possible, given the state of the record, to determine with reasonable probability whether any failure on the part of Becerra's trial counsel at the instruction conference prejudiced Becerra such that, but for his counsel's alleged failure to object to the court's instructions or to offer alternative jury instructions warranted by the evidence and the law, the result of the trial would have been different. See State v. Dawn, 246 Neb. 384, 519 N.W.2d 249 (1994). Because this issue was not raised or ruled on by the trial court and the matter may necessitate an evidentiary hearing, if an appropriate motion is filed containing facts which properly allege an infringement of Becerra's rights under the Nebraska or federal Constitution, we will not address the issue on direct appeal. See id.