Opinion ID: 4424939
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Shooting, Kidnapping, and Ransom Demands

Text: Around 3:30 a.m. on September 8, 2015, Ivan Brazier, Derek Fields, and Lindani Mzembe attacked Adrian Harris as he approached his car, which was parked in front of his home. The defendants demanded money from Harris and beat him with their guns. While picking Harris up from the ground, one defendant accidentally shot him. The bullet broke apart in Harris’s arm. Part of it went through his arm, and other bits lodged in his elbow. The defendants drove Harris and his car to Brazier’s house where they used duct tape to bind, blindfold, and gag him. At Brazier’s, the defendants continued to pistol-whip Harris and demanded money. Nearly three hours into the kidnapping, Nos. 16-4258, 17-1060, 17-1412, 17-2268 & 17-2269 3 the defendants forced Harris to call his sister and ask for a ransom. He said, “I need some money, they got me.” His sister collected roughly $3,000 from friends and delivered it to a house near Brazier’s. As two of the defendants went to get the ransom, Brazier continued to beat Harris, kicking him, pouring alcohol on his wounds, and twisting his injured arm. When the other two returned, the defendants demanded more money from Harris and continued to torture him. Harris again called his sister, pleading, “Please, Sis. Hurry up. Hurry up. I can’t take it anymore.” After the second telephone call, Harris had trouble breathing because of his broken nose and swollen mouth. One attacker noticed Harris taking irregular breaths and became concerned that he would die in the house. Hearing this, Harris thought he might have a way out. He began “breathing funny” on purpose, and one defendant said, “He can’t die in here.” The defendants decided to drop him in an alley. They cut the duct tape from his hands and feet but kept him blindfolded. Harris asked a man on the street to help. Police were dispatched at 8:53 a.m. They arrived, and an ambulance took Harris to a hospital. Less than one hour before the defendants released Harris, a police oﬃcer had received a tip from a confidential informant that Fields had kidnapped someone. As police gathered more information on the kidnapping, the oﬃcer who received the tip saw a car drive in front of him with Fields and Mzembe riding as passengers around 9:00 a.m. The oﬃcer stopped the car and detained its passengers. The driver—not Fields or Mzembe—agreed to allow the police to search the car. They found a pair of bloody gloves, Harris’s car keys, and a black 4 Nos. 16-4258, 17-1060, 17-1412, 17-2268 & 17-2269 mask. The police also obtained a search warrant for Brazier’s residence.