California v. Delacerda
Annotate this CaseA jury convicted defendant Sean Delacerda of simple kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, and domestic violence battery, and found true allegations that in committing those crimes he personally used a firearm. The court sentenced defendant to a term of 13 years in prison. Defendant argued on appeal of his conviction and sentence that the kidnapping conviction should have been reversed because the false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, and domestic violence battery are "associated crimes," as that phrase was used in "California v. Martinez," (20 Cal.4th 225 (1999)), and the court erroneously failed to instruct the jury to consider whether the movement of the victim was merely incidental to the commission of those crimes. He also claimed the evidence of movement was insufficient to support the kidnapping conviction. After review, the Court of Appeal concluded false imprisonment was not an "associated crime" as a matter of law, and the assault with a firearm was not an associated crime as a matter of fact. But the Court agreed the evidence was sufficient to show the relationship between the kidnapping and the domestic violence battery met the associated crime test set out in "California v. Bell," (179 Cal.App.4th 428 (2009)). So the court was required to instruct the jury to consider whether the movement of the victim was merely incidental to the commission of the domestic violence battery. "And, since the failure to so instruct was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, the kidnapping conviction must be reversed."
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