Court Opinion

ID: 9524141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:50:19.598266+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:01:17.703040
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Presiding Judge
(concurring specially).
I concur with the majority’s decision, applying recent case law, there is substantial evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt *313the defendant is guilty of first-degree kidnapping.
First-degree kidnapping is punished by life in prison. Kidnapping in some cases is easily defined where the person is abducted for the sole purpose of holding him or her for ransom or as a hostage. In these cases, kidnapping is the central crime.
Clearly, kidnapping was not the central crime here; sexual abuse in the second degree was. However, by elevating the crime to kidnapping, the punishment is elevated to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the most severe sentence a defendant can receive in Iowa.
The victim here was returned in a relatively short period of time. The victim could identify her assailants. If penalties preclude persons from committing crimes, and there are those who believe they do, what incentive does an abuser have in allowing the victim to return alive?
If the legislature wants sexual abuse to be punished by life in prison, then the crime should be so punished. I have difficulty with decisions finding kidnapping has been committed when the victim is returned in a very short period of time after the act of sexual abuse occurs.