Opinion ID: 1732761
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sexual Abuse as a Lesser Included Offense.

Text: Defendant argues he cannot be punished for both first degree kidnapping and second degree sexual abuse because second degree sexual abuse is a lesser included offense of first degree kidnapping as charged in this case. Therefore, he says, pursuant to Iowa Code section 701.9, the lesser offense merges into the greater. Although tacitly agreeing that sexual abuse is a lesser included offense of kidnapping as here charged and tried, the State argues that the defendant committed at least two separate and distinct crimes of sexual abuse, only one of which was the basis for the kidnapping charge. The other act, the State says, supports the conviction for sexual abuse. Under the circumstances of this case, we reject the State's argument. We do not foreclose the State's right to convict a defendant of both kidnapping in the first degree and sexual abuse if the case is presented to the jury in that way and the jury makes findings accordingly. A defendant should not be allowed to repeatedly assault his victim and fall back on the argument his conduct constitutes but one crime. Other jurisdictions have met this problem in considering whether there can be separate charges based on multiple sexual assaults. A number of courts have held a defendant may be convicted separately for each attack. E.g. People v. Saars, 196 Colo. 294, 303, 584 P.2d 622, 629 (1978) (separate and distinct acts of sexual abuse on same victim may be prosecuted and punished separately even though all occurred within period of two hours); Vaughan v. State, 614 S.W.2d 718, 722 (Mo.Ct. App.1981) (two rapes committed on same victim at same place within fifty-five minutes may constitute separate crimes if each was intended by defendant as separate gratification of his sexual desires); State v. Bussiere, 118 N.H. 659, 661, 392 A.2d 151, 153 (1978) (defendant may be separately tried and convicted for acts of sexual abuse committed by different means and in different ways); State v. Ware, 53 Ohio App.2d 210, 211, 372 N.E.2d 1367, 1368 (1977) (convictions for invasions of different bodily orifices upheld as separate and distinct offenses although arising out of same incident); State v. Eisch, 96 Wis.2d 25, 27, 291 N.W.2d 800, 801 (1980) (four sex acts, each of different kind and character, constitute four separate crimes, even when occuring at same location within two-and-one-half-hours); Hamill v. State, 602 P.2d 1212, 1216 (Wyo.1979) (sexual acts, even if closely related in time and place, may constitute separate offenses where occurring in different ways). But see State v. Dorsey, 224 Kan. 152, 156, 578 P.2d 261, 265 (1978). 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. See State v. Newman, 326 N.W.2d 796 (Iowa 1982); State v. Folck, 325 N.W.2d 368 (Iowa 1982). We reiterate what we said in those opinions, and for the same reasons, hold the present conviction for sexual abuse cannot stand.