Opinion ID: 2637623
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Erroneous Kidnapping-murder Special-circumstance Instruction

Text: Although the information only charged defendant with kidnapping for robbery (§ 209), the trial court instructed the jury on the lesser included offense of kidnapping (§ 207) and informed the jury that kidnapping was a general intent offense. In its instruction on the elements of the kidnapping-murder special circumstance, the court referred only to kidnapping, and not kidnapping for robbery. Because kidnapping is a general intent crime and because the kidnapping-murder instruction did not require the jury to find that defendant committed the murder in furtherance of the kidnapping, defendant contends the special circumstance instruction did not require the jury to find that defendant had the specific intent to commit kidnapping. According to defendant, this error warrants reversal because the jury could have found the special circumstance to be true without finding that defendant intended to kidnap the three women. Even assuming error, it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (See ante, 133 Cal.Rptr.2d at pp. 41-42, 66 P.3d at pp. 1142-1143 [erroneous special-circumstance instruction is subject to Chapman ].) The uncontroverted evidence established that defendant forced the three women at gunpoint into the backseat of a car and then drove off with them. The jury convicted defendant of kidnapping for robbery and necessarily found that defendant kidnapped the victims with the specific intent to rob them. In her closing argument, the prosecutor expressly argued that defendant had a very specific intent to kidnap. Defendant never challenged this argument in his closing. In light of this evidence, the jury's findings, and the closing arguments, there is no possibility the jury would have found that defendant lacked the specific intent to commit the kidnappings. Accordingly, any instructional error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.