Opinion ID: 1288420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: sufficiency of evidence regarding alternative means for committing aggravated kidnapping

Text: The defendant's final contention is that the evidence was insufficient to support one of the alternative means by which the offense of aggravated kidnapping was alleged to have been committed. He argues that based upon our decision in State v. Timley, 255 Kan. 286, Syl. ¶ 1, 875 P.2d 242 (1994), we must reverse his conviction for aggravated kidnapping. The defendant was charged with aggravated kidnapping of Jackson in the alternative, based on alternative theories that he took or confined Jackson with the intent to either (1) facilitate flight or the commission of a crime or (2) inflict bodily injury or terrorize her. The jury relied on the first alternative, finding that the aggravated kidnapping occurred to facilitate flight or the commission of a crime. The defendant argues that while the jury could have found that the movement of Jackson to the back hallway may have been done with the intent to facilitate flight in that it placed the defendant near the back door of the Burger King, there was insufficient evidence to support the other alternative means, that the movement was done to facilitate the commission of a crime. In State v. Timley , we addressed a claim that a jury instruction defining the offense of rape was erroneous in that it did not require the jury to unanimously decide whether the sexual acts were committed by force or by fear. We said: In an alternative means case, where a single offense may be committed in more than one way, there must be jury unanimity as to guilt for the single crime charged. Unanimity is not required, however, as to the means by which the crime was committed so long as substantial evidence supports each alternative means. 255 Kan. 286, Syl. ¶ 1. Thus, the defendant's reliance on Timley for the rule that substantial evidence must support each alternative means of committing the offense of aggravated kidnapping is correct. However, the defendant's contention that there is insufficient evidence to support a conclusion that the defendant committed the aggravated kidnapping to facilitate his commission of the crime of murder in the first degree is not supported in the record. The record reveals that the defendant dragged Jackson back around the corner away from anyone who could intervene before administering the final shots. Jackson was still alive and moving at that time and, therefore, the murder was not complete. The testimony of Dr. Eckert established that if the fatal shot had been fired previously, Jackson would have been unconscious almost immediately. The fact that she was still moving at the time leads to the conclusion that the fatal shot came after the defendant had taken her around the corner. It would have been to the defendant's advantage to take Jackson to the back, away from any possible intervenors, while he attempted to clear his jammed gun. Under these circumstances, there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that he committed the aggravated kidnapping to facilitate his commission of the crime of murder in the first degree. Affirmed.