Opinion ID: 2263096
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Separate Sentences for Kidnapping and Child Kidnapping

Text: The doctrine of merger of offenses for sentencing purposes is premised in part on the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, applicable to state court proceedings via the Fourteenth Amendment. Dixon v. State, 364 Md. 209, 236, 772 A.2d 283, 299 (2001) (Citations omitted). The applicable standard for determining whether one offense merges into another is what is often called the required evidence test, McGrath v. State, 356 Md. 20, 23, 736 A.2d 1067, 1068-69 (1999) (Citations omitted); but, it is also known as the same evidence test, Blockburger test, or elements test. Dixon, 364 Md. at 237, 772 A.2d at 299-300. In McGrath, supra, we summarized the required evidence test as follows: The required evidence test focuses upon the elements of each offense; if all of the elements of one offense are included in the other offense, so that only the latter offense contains a distinct element or distinct elements, the former merges into the latter. Stated another way, the required evidence is that which is minimally necessary to secure a conviction for each [] offense. If each offense requires proof of a fact which the other does not, or in other words, if each offense contains an element which the other does not, there is no merger under the required evidence test even though both offenses are based upon the same act or acts. But, where only one offense requires proof of an additional fact, so that all elements of one offense are present in the other, and where both offenses are based on the same act or acts, [] merger follows [ ].    When applying the required evidence test to multi-purpose offenses, i.e., offenses having alternative elements, a court must examine the alternative elements relevant to the case at issue. (Internal quotations and citations omitted). McGrath, 356 Md. at 23-24, 736 A.2d at 1068-69 (quoting State v. Lancaster, 332 Md. 385, 391-392, 631 A.2d 453, 456-57 (1993)). When a merger is required, separate sentences are normally precluded; instead, a sentence may be imposed only for the offense having the additional element or elements. See, e.g., Dixon, 364 Md. at 237, 772 A.2d at 299 (citing Nightingale v. State, 312 Md. 699, 702, 542 A.2d 373, 374 (1988)); McGrath, 356 Md. at 24, 736 A.2d at 1069 (Internal quotations omitted). [W]here there is a merger of a lesser included offense into a greater offense, we are not concerned with penalties  the lesser included offense generally merges into and is subsumed by the greater offense regardless of penalties. Dixon, 364 Md. at 238, 772 A.2d at 300 (citing Spitzinger v. State, 340 Md. 114, 125, 665 A.2d 685, 690 (1995) and Simms v. State, 288 Md. 712, 722-23, 421 A.2d 957, 963 (1980)) (Emphasis in original); see also State v. Lancaster, 332 Md. at 404-07, 631 A.2d at 463-64. We have not before determined whether kidnapping merges with child kidnapping. We would examine first the elements of each offense, regardless of the penalties imposed. Section 3-502 of the Criminal Law Article regarding kidnapping provides, in pertinent part: (a) Prohibited.  A person may not, by force or fraud, carry or cause a person to be carried in or outside the State with the intent to have the person carried or concealed in or outside the State. Md.Code (2002), Criminal Law Article, § 3-502(a). Section 3-503 of the Criminal Law Article regarding child kidnapping, as it stood in 2002, provided, in pertinent part: (a) Prohibited.  (1) A person may not, without color of right: (i) forcibly abduct, take, or carry away a child under the age of 12 years from: 1. the home or usual place of abode of the child; or 2. the custody and control of the child's parent or legal guardian; (ii) without the consent of the child's parent or legal guardian, persuade or entice a child under the age of 12 years from: 1. the child's home or usual place of abode; or 2. The custody and control of the child's parent or legal guardian; or (iii) with the intent of depriving the child's parent or legal guardian, or any person lawfully possessing the child, of the custody, care, and control of the child, knowingly secrete or harbor a child under the age of 12 years. Md.Code (2002), Criminal Law Article, § 3-503(a). Appellant was convicted of one count of statutory kidnapping (according to the Indictment: unlawfully did forcibly and fraudulently carry and cause to be carried Marciana Monyai Ringo, with intent to have [her] carried and concealed in or outside this State ...) and one count of statutory child kidnapping (according to the Indictment: unlawfully did, without color of right, without the consent of Marciana Monyai Ringo's parent or legal guardian, persuade and entice [her], a child under the age of 12, from [her] home and the custody and control of [her] parent or legal guardian ...). Because both kidnapping and child kidnapping are multi-element offenses, we look to the alternative elements relevant to the present case. See, e.g., Dixon, 364 Md. at 243, 772 A.2d at 303. The elements of kidnapping relevant here are: (1) forcibly or fraudulently (2) carry or cause to be carried (3) a person (4) with the intent to have the person carried or concealed in or outside the State. The elements of child kidnapping relevant here are: (1) without the consent of the child's parent or legal guardian, (2) persuade or entice (3) a child under the age of 12 years (4) from the child's home custody or control of the child's parent or legal guardian. A relevant element of kidnapping not present in the relevant elements of child kidnapping is force or fraud. To commit child kidnapping, one need only persuade or entice the child; force or fraud is not required. A relevant element of child kidnapping not present in the relevant elements of kidnapping is the age of the victim as twelve or younger. To commit kidnapping, the victim may be any age. Therefore, the trial court here was not required to merge the two convictions for sentencing purposes under the required elements test. The required evidence test is not, as we pointed out in McGrath, 356 Md. at 25, 736 A.2d at 1069 and Monoker v. State, 321 Md. 214, 222, 582 A.2d 525, 529 (1990), the only standard under Maryland law for determining questions of merger, even when two sentences are not required to be merged under the required evidence test. Those sentences might still require merger under either the rule of lenity and/or principles of fundamental fairness. The rule of lenity, which is only applicable to statutory offenses, provides that where there is no indication that the [L]egislature intended multiple punishments for the same act, a court will not impose multiple punishments but will, for sentencing purposes, merge one offense into the other. McGrath, 356 Md. at 25, 736 A.2d at 1069 (citing Miles v. State, 349 Md. 215, 227, 707 A.2d 841, 847 (1998), Williams v. State, 323 Md. 312, 321-22, 593 A.2d 671, 675 (1991), Monoker, 321 Md. at 220, 582 A.2d at 527-28, and White v. State, 318 Md. 740, 745-46, 569 A.2d 1271, 1274 (1990)). We explained the purpose of the rule of lenity in Monoker: The rule of lenity was originally formulated by the United States Supreme Court as a principle of statutory construction. The policy behind the rule is `that the Court will not interpret a ... criminal statute so as to increase the penalty that it places on an individual when such an interpretation can be based on no more than a guess as to what [the legislature] intended.' White v. State, 318 Md. at 744, 569 A.2d 1271, quoting Simpson v. U.S., 435 U.S. 6, 15, 98 S.Ct. 909, 914, 55 L.Ed.2d 70 (1978), which in turn quotes Ladner v. U.S., 358 U.S. 169, 178, 79 S.Ct. 209, 214, 3 L.Ed.2d 199 (1958). Monoker, 321 Md. at 222-23, 582 A.2d at 529. Where there is a merger under the rule of lenity, the offense carrying the lesser maximum penalty ordinarily merges into the offense carrying the greater maximum penalty. McGrath, 356 Md. at 25, 736 A.2d at 1069 (quoting Miles, 349 Md. at 229, 707 A.2d at 848). We conclude that the rule of lenity would be applicable to the operative considerations in the present case. In reaching this view, we consider the Legislature's chosen statutory language and evidence, if any, of legislative intent regarding multiple sentences for the same criminal conduct. [24] The history of the kidnapping and child kidnapping statutes has been summarized aptly in Moore v. State, 23 Md.App. 540, 329 A.2d 48 (1974), cert. denied, 274 Md. 730 (1975). The common law of kidnapping prohibited the forcible abduction or stealing away of a man, woman, or child from their own country to another, a capital crime under Jewish law. Moore, 23 Md.App. at 543, 329 A.2d at 50 (citing W. BLACKSTONE, COMMENTARIES, 219). The first alternation to the common law definition of kidnapping occurred as a result of a law enacted in 1809, which required as an element the carrying of any free person, or causing him or her be carried, out of this state. Chapter cxxxviii, § 4 of the Acts of 1809. [25] In 1819, the Legislature enacted a statute entitled, An Act to punish the offence of Kidnapping White Children. Chapter cxxxii of the Acts of 1819. The statute provided: Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That every person, his or her counsellors, aiders or abettors, who shall be duly convicted of kidnapping, and forcibly or fraudulently stealing, taking or carrying away, any white child or children under the age of sixteen years, shall be sentenced to undergo a confinement in the penitentiary for a period of time not less than five years, nor more than twelve years, there to be treated as the law directs. Chapter cxxxii of the Acts of 1819. The penalty under this statute provided for a sentence between five and twelve years. The kidnapping statute in effect in 1819 provided a sentence between two and five years. The racial aspect of the child kidnapping law was deleted in 1888. Md. Code (1888), Article 27, § 155. The Court of Special Appeals determined that the legislative intent behind the enactment of the first child kidnapping statute was to create a special statute for the protection of children and to proscribe the forcible or fraudulent taking or carrying away of a child from his or her parent, custodian, or guardian regardless of whether the child was asported beyond the territorial confines of Maryland, a measure taken by the Legislature because the kidnapping statute at the time required that the victim be carried outside of the State. Moore, 23 Md.App. at 546-47, 329 A.2d at 52. In 1949, the Legislature amended the kidnapping statute to include asportation both outside and within the State. Chapter iv, § 385 of the Acts of 1949. Now that neither the kidnapping statute nor the child kidnapping statute require that a victim be asported beyond the territorial confines of Maryland, the original legislative intent to create a special statute to protect children from being kidnapped and carried away to a place within the State is appeased. The current version of the child kidnapping law differs from the kidnapping law in other respects. As we noted, supra, under § 3-503, child kidnapping may be committed by circumstances that are not covered by the current general kidnapping statute, § 3-502, and vice versa. [26] Thus, it appears that the Legislature intended to create two separate offenses, each with its own penalty. Nonetheless the statutory language and legislative history are silent as to the legislative intent to punish the two offenses as distinct offenses, or a single merged crime, when a defendant violates both § 3-503 and § 3-502 by the same conduct. Therefore, the rule of lenity applies. As a result of the ambiguity, we, in effect, will give the defendant the benefit of the doubt and [would] hold that the crimes do merge. Monoker, 321 Md. at 222, 582 A.2d at 529 (Citations omitted). The trial court erred when it failed to merge the kidnapping and child kidnapping counts into one sentence of thirty years. 4.