State v. Sanchez , 779 Utah Adv. Rep. 197 ( 2015 )


Menu:
  •                      
    2015 UT App 27
    _________________________________________________________
    THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS
    STATE OF UTAH,
    Plaintiff and Appellee,
    v.
    JAMES RAPHAEL SANCHEZ,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    Opinion
    No. 20130276-CA
    Filed February 5, 2015
    Third District Court, Salt Lake Department
    The Honorable Denise P. Lindberg
    No. 111903658
    Ralph W. Dellapiana, Peter Daines and John B.
    Plimpton, Attorneys for Appellant
    Sean D. Reyes and Tera J. Peterson, Attorneys
    for Appellee
    JUDGE STEPHEN L. ROTH authored this Opinion, in which JUDGES
    GREGORY K. ORME and JOHN A. PEARCE concurred.
    ROTH, Judge:
    ¶1      Defendant James Raphael Sanchez appeals his convictions
    for aggravated kidnapping and for assault with substantial
    bodily injury. Sanchez argues that the court erred when it failed
    to merge his convictions and when it failed to provide the jury
    with his proposed kidnapping-related jury instruction. We
    affirm.
    State v. Sanchez
    BACKGROUND
    ¶2      In April 2011, A.J. was asleep in the apartment she shared
    with Sanchez. Sanchez woke her up to ask if a friend could stay
    over, and she said no. Sanchez became violent, hitting and biting
    A.J. and pulling her hair. A.J. was able to escape from the
    apartment and ran down the hallway to a neighboring
    apartment where she pounded on the door seeking help. The
    woman who opened the apartment door (Neighbor) testified
    that A.J. was clothed in only a shirt and underwear and was
    crying and ‚panicky.‛ Neighbor attempted to help A.J. inside,
    but Sanchez appeared at the door and grabbed A.J. by the wrist
    saying, ‚Come on baby, let’s go.‛ A.J. tried to free herself from
    Sanchez’s grasp, dropping to the floor and screaming for him to
    let go, but Sanchez dragged A.J. approximately fifty-eight feet
    back down the hallway to the apartment from which she had
    just escaped, then pulled her inside and shut the door. Neighbor
    followed after them, beating on the door and yelling at Sanchez
    to let A.J. out. She also called the police. Neighbor could hear
    A.J. crying and telling Sanchez, ‚Stop, you’re hurting me.‛
    Neighbor also heard a sound that Neighbor thought was
    Sanchez slamming A.J.’s head into the wall.
    ¶3      Several minutes later, Sanchez shoved A.J. out of the
    apartment and back into the hallway. Now there was a bite mark
    on her cheek, and her ear was nearly ripped off. A.J. was covered
    in blood and bite marks, and she was transported to the hospital
    to be treated for her injuries. She gave police a written statement
    briefly describing what Sanchez had done:
    I was asleep and James Sanchez came home
    and asked me if his friend could stay over and [I]
    said no and he became violent first pulled my hair
    and then continued to bite, slap, my head, and bit
    on to my ear and ripped it. Then he bit my face.
    20130276-CA                     2                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    ¶4      Sanchez was charged with aggravated kidnapping and
    assault with substantial bodily injury. Before trial, he asked for a
    supplemental jury instruction informing the jury it must find
    that ‚the unlawful detention or movement of the victim must be
    significantly independent of the crime of assault‛ in order to
    reach a conviction on the aggravated kidnapping charge. The
    proposed supplemental instruction also contained three
    factors—known as the Finlayson factors1—to help the jury
    determine if the evidence supported convictions for both
    aggravated kidnapping and assault, or just assault. The trial
    court denied the request, stating that Sanchez was essentially
    asking the jury to determine the issue of merger and that merger
    was a decision properly reserved for the trial court following the
    entry of convictions by the jury. The jury convicted Sanchez of
    both charges, and he requested that the trial court merge the two
    convictions. The court denied his motion. Sanchez appeals.
    ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW
    ¶5     Sanchez first argues that the trial court erred when it
    failed to merge his convictions.2 Merger is a question of law,
    which we review for correctness. State v. Diaz, 
    2002 UT App 288
    ,
    ¶ 10, 
    55 P.3d 1131
    .
    1. See State v. Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23, 
    994 P.2d 1243
    .
    2. Sanchez argues that the trial court erred in alternatively ruling
    that even if merger were appropriate, his assault conviction
    would merge into his aggravated kidnapping conviction rather
    than the other way around. Because we affirm the trial court’s
    decision and determine that merger was inappropriate, we do
    not reach this issue.
    20130276-CA                       3                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    ¶6      Sanchez next argues that the trial court erred when it
    declined to provide the jury with his proposed instruction.
    ‚[T]he refusal to give a jury instruction is reviewed for abuse of
    discretion,‛ though the amount of deference varies depending
    on the type of issue presented. State v. Berriel, 
    2013 UT 19
    , ¶ 8,
    
    299 P.3d 1133
     (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
    ‚On issues that are primarily or entirely factual, we afford
    significant deference; on issues that are primarily or entirely
    legal in nature, we afford little or no deference.‛ 
    Id.
     The
    proposed jury instruction in this case required the trial court to
    determine whether merger is a question best resolved by a jury
    or by a judge, a determination we conclude was legal in nature.
    ANALYSIS
    I. Merger
    ¶7     Sanchez argues that the trial court should have merged
    his assault and aggravated kidnapping convictions because his
    detention of A.J. had no significance independent from the
    assault. We find no error in the court’s decision not to merge the
    two convictions.
    ¶8      The doctrine of merger seeks to avoid a circumstance
    where ‚a criminal defendant could be punished twice for
    conduct that amounts to only one offense.‛ State v. Lee, 
    2006 UT 5
    , ¶ 31, 
    128 P.3d 1179
    . Thus, ‚[w]here two crimes are defined
    narrowly enough that proof of one does not constitute proof of
    the other, but broadly enough that both may arise from the same
    facts, merger may be appropriate.‛ 
    Id.
     In particular, merger can
    become an issue where ‚a defendant . . . has been charged with
    committing both a violent crime, in which a detention is
    inherent, and the crime of kidnaping based solely on the
    detention necessary to the commission of the companion crime.‛
    State v. Diaz, 
    2002 UT App 288
    , ¶ 17, 
    55 P.3d 1131
    .
    20130276-CA                     4                
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    ¶9     In State v. Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , 
    994 P.2d 1243
    , the Utah
    Supreme Court adopted a three-part test to determine whether a
    kidnapping conviction can stand on its own under circumstances
    where, as in the case before us, ‚a taking or confinement is
    alleged to have been done to facilitate the commission of another
    crime.‛ Id. ¶ 23 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
    The court held,
    [T]o be kidnaping the resulting movement or
    confinement:
    (a) Must not be slight, inconsequential
    and merely incidental to the other crime;
    (b) Must not be of the kind inherent in
    the nature of the other crime; and
    (c) Must have some significance
    independent of the other crime in that it
    makes the other crime substantially easier of
    commission or substantially lessens the risk
    of detection.
    Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Sanchez
    argues that ‚*a+ny detention accompanying *the assault+ was a
    side effect that is not significant enough, in and of itself, to justify
    a separate conviction for aggravated kidnapping.‛ Our case law
    provides useful guidance on how the Finlayson factors are to be
    applied.
    ¶10 In Finlayson, the defendant sexually assaulted a woman in
    his apartment. Id. ¶¶ 3–4. As the assault unfolded, she made
    unsuccessful efforts to escape, and the defendant ultimately
    handcuffed her to facilitate the sexual crime. Id. ¶ 4. After the
    assault, the defendant made the victim wait for ten minutes
    while he dressed before taking her home. Id. ¶ 5. As they left his
    apartment, Finlayson covered the victim’s head with a jacket so
    she would not see the address and then took an unnecessarily
    long route back to her home, where he finally released her. Id. A
    jury convicted the defendant of rape, forcible sodomy, and
    20130276-CA                        5                  
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    aggravated kidnapping. Id. ¶¶ 1, 13. For purposes of analyzing
    Finlayson’s claim that the trial court had erred in refusing to
    merge the kidnapping conviction into the sexual assault
    convictions, the Utah Supreme Court broke the events of the
    night into two components. Id. ¶¶ 7, 22–23, 32–35. First, the court
    concluded that ‚there was no detention prior to or during the
    sexual assault that exceeded the detention inherent in the sex
    crimes,‛ and thus Finlayson’s ‚detention of the victim up to the
    time of the rape and sodomy was incidental to the assault, rather
    than having an independent significance.‛ Id. ¶¶ 22–23. The
    court then examined Finlayson’s actions following completion of
    the sexual assault and determined that ‚the detention appears
    sufficient to support‛ an independent kidnapping conviction
    because his detention of the victim during the combined ten-
    minute wait at his apartment and the hour-long car ride was
    substantially longer than necessary for the commission of the
    underlying crimes. Id. ¶¶ 32–33.3
    ¶11 Later, in State v. Lee, 
    2006 UT 5
    , 
    128 P.3d 1179
    , the
    supreme court considered whether a defendant’s aggravated
    kidnapping conviction should merge with one of his aggravated
    assault convictions in a case that has some useful similarities to
    the case before us. See id. ¶ 1. The defendant had approached
    two women walking along a highway. Id. ¶ 3. He invited them
    to ‚‘party’‛ with him and offered to purchase alcohol. Id. The
    women declined, and the defendant then grabbed one of the
    women, sexually assaulting her. Id. ¶¶ 3–4. After she broke free,
    3. The supreme court affirmed this court’s reversal of aggravated
    kidnapping because there was insufficient evidence to support
    the State’s theory that the defendant’s actions were done to
    ‚‘facilitate flight’ from the commission of the sex crimes,‛ the
    only aggravating factor presented. Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶¶ 32,
    35 (citing 
    Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-302
     (Michie 1995) (aggravated
    kidnapping statute)).
    20130276-CA                     6                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    the two women ran away. Id. ¶ 4. ‚Then, thinking that their
    encounter with [the defendant] was over, [they] slowed their
    pace to a walk.‛ Id. The defendant ran up from behind,
    slamming the woman he had assaulted to the pavement. Id. He
    then dragged her across the highway and into an alley ‚where
    he kicked her repeatedly in the head‛ and pulled down her
    pants. Id. The other woman tried to intervene, but the defendant
    slammed her to the ground as well, kicking her in the face. Id.
    ¶ 5. The supreme court determined that the defendant’s
    detention of the first woman by dragging her across the highway
    was not ‚‘slight, inconsequential and merely incidental’ to the
    assault.‛ Id. ¶ 34 (quoting Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23). Nor was
    the defendant’s movement of the victim ‚‘inherent in the
    nature’‛ of the assault he committed. 
    Id.
     (quoting Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23). ‚Indeed, most assaults do not involve the
    relocation of the victim from one site to another.‛ 
    Id.
     Finally, the
    court determined that the defendant’s recapture and relocation
    of the victim made commission of the assault easier because it
    removed the woman from her friend and made detection by
    others less likely. 
    Id.
    ¶12 The facts of the assault in the case before us align more
    readily with Lee than with Finlayson. Here, A.J. escaped from the
    apartment after Sanchez’s first assault and sought refuge in the
    neighboring apartment down the hall. But Sanchez pursued her
    and, before Neighbor could pull A.J. inside, grabbed A.J. by the
    wrist and dragged her back down the hall fifty-eight feet to their
    apartment, where he closed the door and escalated his attack.
    Sanchez argues that the assault was simply one continuous act.
    But we conclude that, as in Lee, A.J. interrupted the attack by
    breaking free from Sanchez, escaping the apartment, and then
    seeking refuge with Neighbor. See 
    id.
     Thus, Sanchez’s recapture
    of A.J. and his dragging her down the hallway and back inside
    their apartment was not ‚slight, inconsequential and merely
    incidental‛ to the assault. See Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23 (citation
    and internal quotation marks omitted). Neither was Sanchez’s
    movement of the victim ‚inherent in the nature‛ of the assault.
    20130276-CA                      7                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    See 
    id.
     (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Indeed, it
    appears that Sanchez’s motivation in taking A.J. back to their
    own apartment was to remove her from any help that Neighbor
    was trying to offer. As in the very similar circumstances of Lee,
    these actions made it easier for Sanchez to commit the second
    assault. See 
    2006 UT 5
    , ¶ 34; Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23 (holding
    that in order to support a separate conviction for aggravated
    kidnapping, the assailant’s detention must have made the
    assault ‚substantially easier‛ to commit (citation and internal
    quotation marks omitted)).
    ¶13 Sanchez argues that relocating A.J. did not make the
    assault easier to commit because, unlike in Lee where the victim’s
    friend had physically intervened and had made assault on one
    side of the highway more difficult for the defendant, see 
    2006 UT 5
    , ¶ 5, Sanchez ‚had little to no difficulty assaulting [A.J.] in the
    immediate presence of *Neighbor+.‛ In essence, Sanchez argues
    that because Neighbor’s efforts to intervene were futile, his
    convictions should merge, implying that had Neighbor been able
    to physically place herself between Sanchez and A.J. then merger
    would be inappropriate. But Neighbor’s ability to interfere is
    immaterial to our analysis. Here, Sanchez dragged his victim
    away from the only source of aid then available to a place
    behind a locked door. It is no stretch to infer that by so doing he
    intended to make his ‚crime substantially easier of
    commission‛—and to conclude that it was, in fact, easier to
    commit—than had he tried to accomplish the same crime at the
    door of the Neighbor’s apartment, in the face of her protests, or
    elsewhere in the hallway where others might have seen and
    intervened. See Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23 (citation and internal
    quotation marks omitted).
    ¶14 Sanchez also argues that his dragging A.J. down the
    hallway to their apartment should not have played a part in the
    merger analysis. The trial court considered Sanchez’s movement
    of A.J.—roughly fifty-eight feet—as a factor in its decision to
    deny Sanchez’s merger request, ruling that ‚dragging . . . was
    20130276-CA                      8                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    not ‘inherent in the nature’ of the assault.‛ (Quoting State v.
    Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23, 
    994 P.2d 1243
    .) And the State argues
    on appeal that Sanchez’s act of dragging A.J. supports a
    determination that Sanchez’s detention of A.J. had ‚significance
    independent of the assault‛ and was ‚not slight or
    inconsequential‛ or ‚inherent in the nature of the assault.‛
    Sanchez argues that any movement of A.J. is an improper basis
    for denying merger ‚because the jury was not instructed on it.‛
    Sanchez points to Jury Instruction No. 16, which defines
    kidnapping as having ‚detained or restrained‛ a person
    unlawfully against her will ‚for a substantial period of time,
    or . . . in circumstances that exposed her to risk of bodily injury‛
    and does not mention movement as an element of the crime. He
    thus argues that his kidnapping conviction could not have been
    ‚based on a jury finding beyond a reasonable doubt that he
    moved [A.J.] any distance, but [only] that he detained or
    restrained her.‛ Sanchez argues that with no finding from the
    jury to support a conclusion that he moved A.J., any reliance by
    the trial court on movement as a basis to deny merger was error.
    ¶15 But Sanchez ignores Jury Instruction No. 22, which states,
    ‚‘Detain’ or ‘restrain’ mean*s+ keep from proceeding, delay, keep
    in custody, confine, control, check, repress, limit, or restrict.‛
    Common experience teaches that one person can detain or
    restrain another in the ways described in the instruction just as
    effectively by moving her away from where she wants to go as
    by confining her to a place she does not want to be. Accordingly,
    we agree with the State that the jury easily could have found
    Sanchez’s movement of A.J. from just outside Neighbor’s
    apartment, down the hallway, and into their apartment to have
    been for the purpose of keeping A.J. ‚in custody‛ and ‚from
    proceeding,‛ as well as for confining, controlling, checking,
    repressing, limiting, or restricting her—all proper considerations
    on which a kidnapping conviction could be based. And the
    supreme court, in both Finlayson and Lee, seemed to treat the
    defendants’ movement of the victims simply as a form or
    variation of detention. See Lee, 
    2006 UT 5
    , ¶¶ 27, 34 (establishing
    20130276-CA                      9                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    that kidnapping occurs when there is ‚movement or
    confinement‛ and observing that most assaults do not require
    relocating the victim); Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶¶ 23, 32–33
    (determining that the detention involved in moving the victim
    from one room to another in the course of committing the crime
    was inherent in the sexual assault but driving the victim on a
    circuitous route to a release point after the assault had been
    completed was not). Thus, the trial court was fully justified in
    taking Sanchez’s ‚movement‛ of the victim into account as part
    of the circumstances it considered in denying Sanchez’s request
    to merge his convictions.
    ¶16 We therefore conclude that the trial court did not err in
    refusing to merge Sanchez’s kidnapping and assault
    convictions.4
    II. Proposed Jury Instruction
    ¶17 Sanchez next argues that the trial court erred when it
    refused to give a supplemental jury instruction he proposed.
    ‚Failure to give requested jury instructions constitutes reversible
    error only if their omission tends to mislead the jury to the
    prejudice of the complaining party or insufficiently or
    erroneously advises the jury on the law.‛ State v. Stringham, 
    2001 UT App 13
    , ¶ 17, 
    17 P.3d 1153
     (citation and internal quotation
    marks omitted). After reviewing the proposed instruction, we
    conclude that Sanchez suffered no prejudice due to its omission
    4. The State argues that the Finlayson analysis does not apply to
    this case because of amendments made to Utah’s aggravated
    kidnapping statute since Finlayson was issued. However,
    because Sanchez has not demonstrated error in the trial court’s
    merger ruling, we need not consider this argument because we
    can affirm on an alternative ground.
    20130276-CA                     10                
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    and that the jury was not insufficiently or erroneously advised
    on the law.
    ¶18 Jury Instruction No. 16 instructed the jury that it should
    find Sanchez guilty of aggravated assault if it found
    1. That [Sanchez]
    2. In the course of committing:
    3.A. UNLAWFUL DETENTION, meaning
    that he:
    (1) intentionally or knowingly,
    (2) without authority of law,
    (3) and against the will of [A.J.],
    (4) detained or restrained her;
    OR
    3.B. KIDNAPING, meaning that he:
    (1) intentionally or knowingly,
    (2) without authority of law,
    (3) and against the will of [A.J.],
    (4) (a) detained or restrained her for a
    substantial period of time, or
    (b) detained or restrained her in
    circumstances that exposed her to risk of
    bodily injury;
    4. He acted with the intent to inflict bodily
    injury on or to terrorize [A.J.]; AND
    5. [Sanchez] and [A.J.] were co-habitants at
    the time of the offense.
    Sanchez does not dispute that this instruction correctly sets forth
    the requirements of Utah’s aggravated kidnapping statute. See
    
    Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-302
     (LexisNexis Supp. 2014) (aggravated
    kidnapping); see also 
    id.
     § 76-5-301 (2012) (kidnapping); id. § 76-5-
    304 (unlawful detention).
    20130276-CA                      11                
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    ¶19 Prior to trial, however, Sanchez proposed a supplemental
    instruction that instructed the jury on the three factors set forth
    in Finlayson as a test for whether two crimes should merge:
    In considering whether [Sanchez] is guilty of
    both of the charges before you, Aggravated
    Kidnapping and Assault, or of Assault only, you
    are instructed as follows:
    In order to justify a separate conviction for
    Aggravated Kidnapping, the unlawful detention or
    movement of the victim must be significantly
    independent of the crime of Assault. That is, the
    resulting movement or confinement:
    1. Must not be slight, inconsequential or
    merely incidental to the Assault, AND
    2. Must not be of the kind inherent in the
    nature of the crime of Assault, AND
    3. Must have some significance independent
    of the crime of Assault that it makes the
    other crime substantially easier in
    commission or substantially lessens the risk
    of detection.
    Sanchez argued that this instruction was necessary to help the
    jury determine ‚whether there was a kidnapping when there is
    also an assault alleged.‛ The State argued that the proposed
    instruction asked the jury to decide the question of merger, an
    issue to be resolved by the trial court and then only after the jury
    had returned convictions for both crimes. The trial court agreed,
    ruling that the factors set forth in the proposed instruction were
    ‚instruction to the judge to consider in the course of making a
    legal determination[, a]nd as a result it was not something that
    was appropriate for the jury to consider.‛ We agree.
    ¶20 As we have noted, ‚*t+he trial court cannot assess
    whether, under the particular facts of the case, one charge
    merges into another until the prosecution has presented its case
    20130276-CA                     12                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    and the jury has convicted the defendant of multiple charges. To
    rule otherwise would provide protection against a danger that
    does not exist.‛ State v. Lopez, 
    2004 UT App 410
    , ¶ 8, 
    103 P.3d 153
    ; accord State v. Ellis, 
    2014 UT App 185
    , ¶ 12, 
    336 P.3d 26
    . On
    appeal, however, Sanchez contends that his proposed jury
    instruction was necessary to prevent him from being doubly
    punished for the same act. Without the instruction, he argues,
    the jury was not required to find that any detention or restraint,
    as defined in the aggravated kidnapping instruction, was
    ‚significantly independent‛ from the detention inherent in the
    underlying assault. In this regard, Sanchez urges us to adopt an
    approach that allocates to the jury, and not the judge,
    responsibility for resolving the question of whether facts
    fulfilling the elements of a kidnapping statute are instead
    ‚incidental‛ to an underlying crime.5 Sanchez also cites a
    number of cases that require a narrow interpretation of
    5. Sanchez argues that this approach has been adopted in other
    jurisdictions and cites cases in support of his proposition. See
    Alam v. State, 
    776 P.2d 345
    , 348–49 (Alaska Ct. App. 1989); State v.
    Rich, 
    305 N.W.2d 739
    , 742 (Iowa 1981); People v. Adams, 
    205 N.W.2d 415
    , 423 (Mich. 1973). But only Adams seems to explicitly
    allocate the merger issue to the jury rather than the trial court.
    205 N.W.2d at 424. The other cases Sanchez cites simply
    underscore the idea that, if not construed narrowly, some
    kidnapping statutes pose a real risk of doubly punishing a
    defendant who has been charged with both kidnapping and
    another offense involving some form of detention in its
    commission. See, e.g., Alam, 
    776 P.2d at
    348–49 (holding that
    Alaska’s legislature did not intend its kidnapping statute to be
    interpreted as broadly as the literal language indicated); Rich,
    
    305 N.W.2d at 745
     (holding that the terms ‚confines‛ and
    ‚removes‛ in the Iowa kidnapping statute require ‚more than
    the confinement or removal that is an inherent incident of
    commission‛ of the underlying crime).
    20130276-CA                     13                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    kidnapping statutes in order to prevent a defendant from being
    doubly punished, in his words, ‚limiting their application to
    situations where the detention or movement is significantly
    independent of the underlying crime.‛ See, e.g., People v. Daniels,
    
    459 P.2d 225
    , 231–32 (Cal. 1969) (narrowly interpreting
    California’s kidnapping statute to apply only when movement of
    the victim is more than ‚incidental to the alleged assault‛),
    superseded by statute as recognized in People v. Robertson, 
    146 Cal. Rptr. 3d 66
     (Cal. Ct. App. 2012); State v. Goodhue, 
    2003 VT 85
    ,
    ¶ 11, 
    833 A.2d 861
     (explaining the development of the
    ‚narrowing of the applicability of kidnapping laws‛).
    ¶21 We agree with Sanchez that careful interpretation of
    kidnapping statutes is crucial to prevent two convictions from
    inappropriately arising out of a single course of conduct. See
    State v. Couch, 
    635 P.2d 89
    , 92 (Utah 1981) (observing that ‚many
    courts have reassessed kidnaping statutes during the past two
    decades‛ and concluding that Utah’s narrowly drafted
    kidnapping statute permits a conviction only if ‚the kidnaping is
    not merely incidental or subsidiary to some other crime‛).
    Indeed, our supreme court adopted the Finlayson factors for this
    very purpose—to ensure that the detention supporting a
    kidnapping conviction has ‚independent significance‛ from any
    detention inherent in the underlying crime so that two
    convictions do not arise from the same course of conduct. See
    State v. Finlayson, 
    2000 UT 10
    , ¶ 23, 
    994 P.2d 1243
     (holding that
    the detention supporting aggravated kidnapping must have
    significant independence from the underlying crime because ‚to
    hold otherwise would transform virtually every rape and
    robbery into a kidnaping as well‛). But Utah precedent is clear
    that it is the role of the trial court, not the jury, to apply these
    factors and to act as the watchman against an unjust outcome by
    determining whether merger should occur. And Utah precedent
    is also clear that this process is to take place only after the jury
    has returned two pertinent convictions. At that point, the jury
    has decided that the circumstances of the case fulfill the elements
    of two separate crimes and has necessarily resolved any
    20130276-CA                     14                 
    2015 UT App 27
    State v. Sanchez
    questions of fact accordingly. Only then does the question of
    whether the facts that support the two convictions also require
    their merger arise. And that kind of determination is one which
    we traditionally entrust to judges because it requires the exercise
    of judgment in applying the law to what are by then established
    facts. Sanchez has not persuaded us that there is any weakness
    in this approach that justifies a departure from established
    precedent.
    ¶22 We therefore conclude that the trial court correctly
    instructed the jury on the law applicable to aggravated
    kidnapping and did not err in deciding the issue of merger itself
    following Sanchez’s convictions. We accordingly find no abuse
    of discretion in the trial court’s decision to reject the proposed
    supplemental jury instruction.
    CONCLUSION
    ¶23 We conclude that merging Sanchez’s convictions would
    be inappropriate under the Finlayson factors. We also conclude
    that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it refused to
    send the question of merger to the jury by denying Sanchez’s
    proposed jury instruction. We affirm.
    20130276-CA                     15                 
    2015 UT App 27
                                

Document Info

Docket Number: 20130276-CA

Citation Numbers: 2015 UT App 27, 344 P.3d 191, 779 Utah Adv. Rep. 197, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 28, 2015 WL 478186

Judges: Roth, Orme, Pearce

Filed Date: 2/5/2015

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 11/13/2024