In Re the Appeal in Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. J-72472 S

543 P.2d 806, 25 Ariz. App. 377, 1975 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 18, 1975
Docket1 CA-JUV 35
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 543 P.2d 806 (In Re the Appeal in Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. J-72472 S) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Appeal in Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. J-72472 S, 543 P.2d 806, 25 Ariz. App. 377, 1975 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891 (Ark. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

*378 OPINION

HAIRE, Chief Judge, Division 1.

This is an appeal pursuant to Rules 24 through 29, Rules of Procedure for the Juvenile Court, 17A A.R.S., from an order of the Juvenile Court entered on February 11, 1975, adjudicating the juvenile delinquent and committing him to the State Department of Corrections.

The basis of the adjudication of delinquency was the Court’s finding that all three counts of a petition alleging criminal offenses by the juvenile were true beyond a reasonable doubt. The petition alleged, and the Court found, that the juvenile had committed two acts of kidnapping in violation of A.R.S. § 13-491 and one act of forcible rape in violation of A.R.S. § 13-611.

On this appeal appellant challenges the adjudication of delinquency on several grounds.

Appellant’s main arguments concern the Court’s failure to direct a verdict in his favor on the two kidnapping counts, and his contention that the evidence is insufficient to establish any of the three counts beyond a reasonable doubt. We have reviewed the entire record and conclude that there was sufficient evidence introduced to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on all counts.

A brief summary of the evidence supporting the findings is that on November 28, 1974, two 14 year old girls, Mary and Christine, were hitchhiking on South Central Avenue in Phoenix about 10:15 p. m. A car driven by the then 16 year old male appellant, in which there was an adult male passenger, passed them and then stopped. The girls told them to keep going. Appellant then drove past the girls a second time, offered them a ride, and the girls got into appellant’s car. Appellant told them he would take them home, but after the girls told him where they lived, appellant refused to take any route toward their home in spite of their repeated requests. Appellant told them that instead they were going to South Mountain Park to smoke pot. The girls did not want to go there and so advised appellant, whereupon appellant repeatedly threatened to kill both girls if they yelled or started anything. Appellant and his companion then gave the girls several marijuana “joints” and insisted that they light and smoke them, which the girls pretended to do. In spite of their protests and requests to be taken home, the appellant drove to South Mountain Park, where he merely slowed down at the gate and threw the entrance fee at the guard. After entering the park, appellant turned off the main road onto a side dirt road, where he parked. Appellant then told Mary to get out of the car, which she did, whereupon he pulled her to the rear of the car. Just then another car passed by on the main road, and appellant choked Mary to keep her from screaming. He then dragged her into some bushes and removed her pants. Mary began yelling again, and appellant then threw her to the ground and had sexual intercourse with her while choking her and holding her down. The intercourse was without her consent and against her will. While appellant was having intercourse with her, his adult companion approached and appellant asked him to hold Mary’s legs down, which he did. The other man then had intercourse with her, after which appellant had intercourse for a second time. As a result of these acts, Mary had scratches and bruises on her neck, back, and legs. While the intercourse was occurring, Christine ran away and summoned the police, who apprehended appellant and his companion at the scene. Appellant admitted driving the girls to the park and attempting to have intercourse with Mary, allegedly with her consent, but denied any threats, violence, or actual intercourse. Based on the foregoing, we find that all three counts were established beyond a reasonable doubt, if the evidence was believed by the trier of fact.

*379 Appellant contends, however, that because A.R.S. § 13-491 defines the type of kidnapping charged here as the act of a person who “Forcibly steals, takes or arrests any person in this state, and carries him . . . into another part of the same county. . . . ” and because the girls admittedly initially entered the car voluntarily rather than as the result of any force, there can be no kidnapping under this statute under the facts of this case. Appellant cites no authority for this proposition except his own argument that force must be involved in the initial contact between the kidnapper and the victim. Under appellant’s theory, once an initial consent to accompany a person for a particular purpose is established, he may detain the person consenting for whatever time or other purpose he desires. We do not believe this to be the law in Arizona or the effect of this particular statute.

While we find no Arizona authority directly construing A.R.S. § 13-491 in this connection, our Supreme Court has stated with respect to an allied kidnapping statute (A.R.S. § 13-492), which requires kidnapping with certain specific intents, that “The essence of kidnapping is not the distance the victim is transported but the unlawful compulsion against the will to go somewhere.” State v. Williams, 111 Ariz. 222, 526 P.2d 1244 (1974). Under the latter statute the Court has affirmed convictions where a young child victim entered the defendant’s car willingly and was then driven some distance and abused. State v. Burchett, 107 Ariz. 185, 484 P.2d 181 (1971); State v. Wahrlich, 105 Ariz. 102, 459 P.2d 727 (1969).

Under common law and most modern statutes, kidnapping must involve a taking and carrying away of a person by force or fraud, against the will of the victim, and hence consent is a defense. 1 Am.Jur.2d, Abduction and Kidnapping, § 15. However, consent procured by fraud is no legal consent. Ibid. Furthermore, “It is not necessary that the involuntariness exist from the beginning of the transaction, if subsequently there is an enforced detention or restraint of liberty.” Ibid., citing People v. Trawick, 78 Cal.App.2d 604, 178 P.2d 45 (1947).

In State v. Gough, 257 N.C. 348, 126 S. E.2d 118 (1962), annotated at 95 A.L.R.2d 441, the Court points out:

“According to the authorities we have cited, the crime of kidnapping by its very nature cannot ordinarily be committed by an act to which a person, being capable in law of consenting, consents in a legally valid manner.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Grayson v. State
824 So. 2d 804 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1999)
State v. Miguel
611 P.2d 125 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1980)
State v. Reinhold
597 P.2d 532 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. Racey
590 P.2d 1064 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
543 P.2d 806, 25 Ariz. App. 377, 1975 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-appeal-in-maricopa-county-juvenile-action-no-j-72472-s-arizctapp-1975.