Opinion ID: 165225
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Dale was held against her will

Text: 19 Gabaldon first challenges his conviction by arguing that the evidence did not show Dale was held against her will, citing her voluntary entry into Gabaldon's car. According to Gabaldon, Dale's confinement in his vehicle once she had been beaten unconscious was not against her will, since at that point she was no longer capable of formulating or expressing a will. 20 In an ordinary kidnapping case where the victim is able and willing to testify as to his or her consent at trial, testimony that he or she was transported involuntarily is ... normally sufficient to support a jury finding that the victim was in fact transported involuntarily. United States v. Hernandez-Orozco, 151 F.3d 866, 869 (8th Cir.1998). Where, by contrast, the victim's testimony is not available at trial but the evidence introduced indicates that the accused feloniously interfered with the victim's ability to form or express a desire to leave, the jury could rationally conclude that the victim was being held involuntarily. 21 The evidence presented below indicated that Dale was beaten into unconsciousness while sitting in the back of Gabaldon's car. It would have been entirely reasonable on this basis alone for the jury to have concluded that Dale would have withdrawn any previous consent to stay. 2 Here, in any case, the prosecution produced additional evidence that Dale resisted her assailants and shouted for them to stop beating her before she was rendered unconscious. We conclude that the evidence at trial was sufficient to support the jury's conclusion that Dale was confined in Gabaldon's car against her will. 22