Court Opinion

ID: 9628892
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:33:43.477498+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:12.873382
License: Public Domain

WILKINS, Associate Presiding Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I completely concur in the main opinion regarding all issues except the reversal of defendant’s conviction for aggravated kidnap-ing. In addition to affirming defendant’s convictions for rape and forcible sodomy, I would affirm the aggravated kidnaping conviction. Under our statute, aggravated kid-naping in this case was committed if the jury found, based upon the evidence presented to it, that defendant
intentionally or knowingly, without authority of law and against the will of the victim, by any means and in any manner, seize[d], confinefd], detainfed], or transported] the victim with intent:
(b) to facilitate the commission, attempted commission, or flight after commission or attempted commission of a felony; or
(e) to commit a sexual offense as described in Part 4 of this chapter [including rape and forcible sodomy].
Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-302(1) (1995).
Viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in a light most favorable to the verdict, see State v. Dunn, 850 P.2d 1201, 1205-06 (Utah 1993), substantial evidence was presented on these points. Defendant lured the victim to his apartment with a story that he had forgotten a book needed before going to the library to study. When they arrived at his apartment, the victim twice told him she would wait in the car, but he insisted that she come up to his apartment to see his Japanese souvenirs. After luring her to his apartment, he kept her there with the representation that the library was about to close and would be unavailable for study. Again she initially declined, and he had to persuade her to stay. He later assaulted her over a period of time sufficient for her to try three different escapes, and during which he not only raped and sodomized her, but also took the time to both handcuff the victim and later, still during the assault, to release her from the handcuffs in exchange for her promise not to try *296to escape again. He repeatedly told her that if she did not permit the assaults, he would not let her go.
Later, defendant drove the victim from his apartment, the location of the assaults. Before doing so, defendant first tried to place a bag over the victim’s head and ultimately resorted to covering her face with a jacket to keep her from later identifying his address as the crime scene. He kept her in his car for more than the time necessary to drive her directly to her own residence, during which time he tried to convince her not to report the crime and insisted that she promise not to kill herself.
Given these facts, the jury could well have found that defendant took the victim to his apartment with the intent to rape and sodomize her. They could also have easily found that she accepted his “invitation” to be driven home much the same way as she had earlier been forced to accept his “invitation” to remain silent and cease trying to escape to avoid both the handcuffs and his threat that he would not let her go.
Even if we assume that the assault did not begin until the victim was forcibly taken to defendant’s bedroom, the time thereafter until she was again at liberty was significantly longer than that necessary to accomplish the brutal assault on her person. It seems perfectly reasonable to presume that the jury, relying upon the evidence presented and the instructions as to the law given them, found defendant guilty of aggravated kidnaping in addition to the crimes of rape and- forcible sodomy.
In my opinion, the detention following the rape and forcible sodomy, clearly for the purpose of trying to substantially lessen the risk of detection, is sufficient to sustain the conviction.1 This includes the time during which defendant detained the victim for purposes of trying to cover her view of his apartment address, as well as the extra time taken driving her to her own home trying to talk her out of reporting the crime, and responding to her feelings of emotional upset. These periods of detention are not “inherent” in the crimes of rape and forcible sodomy, and the detention could easily and logically have been found by the jury to be for the purpose of trying to reduce the likelihood of detection and prosecution. There is only defendant’s testimony from which the jury could possibly have drawn the inference that defendant acted out of compassion or courtesy during the time after the assaults in driving the victim home. Given the cunning and brutal nature of defendant’s attack on the victim, the jury could very easily decline to accept his story as truthful, and obviously did so. Indeed, the reasonable inference from the evidence drawn in favor of the verdict is that defendant had precious little regard for the feelings or physical well being of the victim at any time during their encounter.
In crafting the language of the aggravated kidnaping statute the way it did, the legislature clearly intended to include a factual circumstance such as this. The kidnaping occurred over a period far greater than the time minimally necessary to accomplish the rape and sodomy. The evidence established that defendant’s extended detention of the victim constituted the additional offense of aggravated kidnaping. That is what the jury found, and I would not disturb that verdict.

. It may well be that the detention during the course of the assault would be sufficient as well. This period includes the time while the victim tried to escape, while defendant tried to convince her to remain quiet and to give up her escape attempts, and while he first applied and then removed the handcuffs. None of these delays in releasing the victim are "inherent” in rape or in forcible sodomy. They are, however, inherent in kidnaping.