New Hampshire v. Casanova
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted by jury of attempted kidnapping and attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault. On appeal of his conviction, he argued that : (1) he was denied a unanimous jury verdict on the attempted aggravated sexual assault charge; and (2) he was entitled to a dismissal of the attempted kidnapping charged based on merger. Upon review, the Supreme Court disagreed with defendant's argument that the jury instruction delivered by the trial court allowed the jury to convict him without being unanimous as to the elements constituting attempted AFSA because the two variants of AFSA require different elements. The Court concluded that defendant's attempt to confine his victim was incidental and inseparable from his attempt to commit AFSA. Accordingly, the Court found that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss the kidnapping charged based on merger.
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