Harper v. State

121 A.3d 24, 2015 Del. LEXIS 376, 2015 WL 4776515
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedAugust 13, 2015
Docket453, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 121 A.3d 24 (Harper v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harper v. State, 121 A.3d 24, 2015 Del. LEXIS 376, 2015 WL 4776515 (Del. 2015).

Opinion

SEITZ, Justice:

I. INTRODUCTION

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant, Rondaiges Harper, of carjacking in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, and two counts of conspiracy in the second degree. On appeal he argues that his convictions should be reversed because the crime of carjacking was completed by the time he joined the two teenagers who had stolen the victim’s car and confined her in the trunk. We conclude, based on the language and legislative history of Delaware’s carjacking statute, that the crime of carjacking is not a continuing crime, but instead is completed at the point when all the elements of the crime have been satisfied. Because the carjacking of the victim’s vehicle was completed before Harper’s involvement, and each of Harper’s convictions depends upon carjacking as a predicate crime, we reverse his convictions and remand for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

*26 II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 18, 2013, Margaret Smith, an 89-year old widow, was eating ice cream at Chicken Man in Milford, Delaware, when she was approached by Jimia McDonald, age fourteen, and Jackeline Perez, age fifteen. McDonald and Perez asked Smith if she would give them a ride home. After initially refusing, Smith reconsidered and agreed. 1

McDonald and Perez directed Smith to drive the girls to a number of locations throughout' Milford. After arriving at each location, McDonald and Perez told Smith to drive elsewhere. 2 At the last stop, one of the girls demanded the keys to Smith’s car. Smith refused and a struggle ensued. McDonald and Perez took the keys to Smith’s 2001 Buick LeSabre and forced Smith inside the trunk. 3

McDonald and Perez drove Smith’s car to Coverdale, Delaware, where they picked up Phillip Brewer, an acquaintance with whom McDonald had made plans to meet on Facebook. Brewer was at his mother’s house at the time. 4 McDonald, Perez, and Brewer then traveled the short distance from Brewer’s mother’s house to where Harper was staying, also in Coverdale. Harper joined McDonald, Perez, and Brewer in the car. 5 Unbeknownst to Harper and Brewer, Smith was still held captive in the trunk.

After Harper joined the group, the teenagers drove to a nearby park. At the park, the teenagers listened to music until the car battery died. 6 Harper and Brewer then walked the short distance to Brewer’s mother’s house to borrow her car to jumpstart the dead battery. Upon returning to. the park, Harper and Brewer realized there were no jumper cables in Brewer’s mother’s car. Harper and Brewer asked McDonald and Perez if they could look in the trunk of the Buick for jumper cables. McDonald refused, stating that her uncle was coming to jumpstart the car. 7

Brewer and McDonald got into Brewer’s mother’s car. Harper and Perez got back into Smith’s car. 8 After some time, Harper approached Brewer, who was still with McDonald in his mother’s car. Harper told Brewer that there was someone in the trunk of the car. 9 Harper and Brewer then opened the trunk and saw Smith inside. Harper asked McDonald and Perez why Smith was in the trunk. They told Harper and Brewer they had traded liquor for the use of Smith’s car and that Smith preferred to ,be in the trunk rather than the backseat. 10 While the trunk was open, Smith told Harper and Brewer that the car belonged to her. Harper and Brewer removed Smith from the trunk of her car, but the group decided to go to Brewer’s grandmother’s house, so Harper and Brewer forced Smith back into the trunk. 11

*27 After leaving the park, McDonald, Perez, Brewer, and Harper smoked marijuana at Brewer’s grandmother’s house. 12 The group then returned to the park to look for jumper cables in Smith’s car. After removing Smith from the trunk to get the jumper cables stored there, Harper and Brewer tried to jumpstart the battery. The two could not locate the battery, so Harper again forced Smith back into the trunk. 13

Early in the morning the next day, the group returned to the park, this time with Brewer’s uncle who knew how to jumps-tart the battery to Smith’s car. Brewer’s uncle jump'started the battery, but no one mentioned to him that Smith was trapped in the trunk. 14 With Smith’s car working again, the group dropped off Brewer’s mother’s car at her house and then drove Smith’s car to Seaford, Delaware, and booked a room at a Days Inn hotel under Harper’s cousin’s name. 15

At about midday, the group drove back to Coverdale to purchase marijuana. 16 Smith was still locked in the trunk of the car. At some point, the group stopped at a fast, food restaurant to eat. At the restaurant, McDonald spoke with Smith by way of a triink-access opening behind the backseat armrest and asked if Smith wanted anything to eat. Smith replied that she wanted to go home. 17

To this point, and until she was released, Smith was not given any food or water and was unable to take her medication. 18 Despite her protestations, Smith was not allowed to use a bathroom. 19 Throughout the ordeal, Smith banged on the trunk to no ayail. 20 .

During the day and into the evening, the group made several trips to and from Cov-erdale to purchase marijuana. 21 On one of these trips, Perez suggested that the group drive into Milford, and burn the car with Smith inside it. 22 Harper and Brewer objected. Harper suggested that they instead drop Smith off in the Calvary Road cemetery in Seaford. 23 Brewer drove Smith’s car to the. cemetery. McDonald, Perez, and Harper removed Smith from the trunk of her car and left her in the graveyard. The teenagers then returned to their hotel room. 24

Sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. the following morning, Betty Edwards was visiting her son’s grave at the Calvary Road cemetery. 25 She saw Smith emerge *28

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 A.3d 24, 2015 Del. LEXIS 376, 2015 WL 4776515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harper-v-state-del-2015.