Opinion ID: 2329868
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Kidnapping of Ceasar Kelly[3]

Text: On the afternoon of June 9, 1982 Caesar Kelly and his two-year old son, Daniel, were enroute by car from Kelly's mother's house when appellants Battle and Diaz approached the car. The car was stopped in traffic near Irving Street, Northwest. [4] Diaz approached the car on the driver's side; Battle proceeded to the passenger side, opened the door, displayed a pistol, entered the car, and announced in Spanish, I'm the `Pequeno' [little man] from Miami and I'm here to collect. [5] Simultaneously, Diaz forced entry into the driver's side of the car and positioned himself in the back seat. Battle ordered Kelly to follow the car with New York tags in front of him. [6] Kelly followed the lead car to a nearby church parking lot where he was instructed to park his car. Battle and Diaz ordered Kelly and his son to get out of the parked vehicle and enter the lead car, which was already occupied by two additional comrades of Battle. The lead car then proceeded to a motel in Maryland where Battle and his confederates rented a room. Kelly and his son were taken to the rented room where, at the discretion of Battle, Kelly telephoned his wife, Angel Rice, informing her that he and the child were being held and that she had forty-eight hours to come up with $11,000 for their release. [7] Kelly and his captors remained in the motel room for three to four hours, during which time he was informed that everything would be okay as long as the money showed. At one point, Battle left the room and handed the gun to Diaz who remained in the room to keep watch over Kelly and his son. Some time after the first call, Ms. Rice received another call informing her that Kelly's captors planned to return the son, Daniel, to her; she was directed to stand outside of her apartment building so that she could pick up the boy when he was dropped off. Kelly and his captors (Battle, Diaz, Garcia, and Gonzales) left the motel and proceeded to Kelly's apartment. Once they reached the building, Battle and Gonzalez met Rice outside and returned Daniel to her; Kelly remained in the car under force. Battle and Gonzales re-entered the car, whereupon Ms. Rice attempted to approach the car as it sped off. She saw five men in the car, three of whom  Garcia, Gonzales, and, of course, Kelly  she already knew. In addition, she also observed Battle and Diaz whom she later identified in court, and noted that the car had New York tags. Thereafter, the captors drove Kelly to a rowhouse in Brooklyn, New York. They entered the basement of the house, where Kelly remained  only once venturing upstairs  until Friday evening, June 11, approximately two days later. During this time, several phone calls were made to Rice inquiring about the ranson. When Rice informed the captors that she had come up with $8000.00, Battle decided to return to Washington to collect the money upon a promise from Kelly that he would pay the remainder as soon as possible. The next day, Battle, Diaz, and two additional men, Luis Rodriguez and Felix Santiago, drove back to Washington with Kelly. Meanwhile, Gonzales called Ms. Rice to inform her where the exchange of the money for her husband was to occur. As arranged, Battle arrived at the destination and Rice gave him the $8000.00; she then departed and met Kelly at the location where he had been left by his captors.