Jenkins v. State

248 S.W.3d 291, 2007 WL 2390405
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 23, 2008
Docket01-06-00266-CR, 01-06-00267-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 248 S.W.3d 291 (Jenkins v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jenkins v. State, 248 S.W.3d 291, 2007 WL 2390405 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

EVELYN V. KEYES, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant, Gregory Dewayne Jenkins, of one count of aggravated kidnapping 1 in each appellate cause number, 2 and the court sentenced him to 27 years’ confinement on each count. In six issues, appellant argues that (1) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction for aggravated kidnapping and (2) the trial court erred when it refused to charge the jury on the lesser included offense of unlawful restraint.

We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant and Nieketi Williamson first met in February 2003 and dated for five months. After they broke up, Nieketi did not see appellant again until the early morning hours of June 18, 2005, when appellant knocked on the door of Nieketi’s apartment and told her that he missed her. Appellant and Nieketi spoke for approximately 20 minutes, and appellant left.

Sometime between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. that same morning, appellant returned to Nieketi’s apartment, kicking her door hard enough to damage its frame. Nieketi opened the door, and appellant walked in carrying a gun and claimed that someone was chasing him. Nieketi asked appellant to leave because her mother, Rosemary Williamson, 3 her two children, and her nephew were also in the apartment. When appellant refused to leave, Nieketi called the police.

*293 While in Nieketi’s apartment, appellant fired three shots. After the first shot, Nieketi hid with the children in her closet because it “seemed like the only safe place in the house.” Rosemary, too ill to move from the couch on which she had been sleeping, remained in the living room. While in the closet, Nieketi heard two more gunshots. Trial testimony established that two of the shots had gone through Nieketi’s bedroom window and the third had gone through the front door.

Soon after police had surrounded Nieke-ti’s apartment, Deputy Z. Long arrived and began negotiating with appellant. At one point during negotiations, appellant said to Deputy Long that “he was not going to jail” and that if police stormed the apartment, “[they] better come in praying and that he is going to be shooting to kill and [police] better be shooting to kill him.” Sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., appellant released the three children in exchange for three cigarettes; according to Nieketi’s son, appellant said that Nieke-ti and Rosemary had to stay in the apartment.

After approximately three hours of negotiating, Deputy Long and appellant agreed that appellant would come out of the apartment if Deputy Long would give him a pack of menthol cigarettes and allow him to smoke one. Appellant walked out on to the porch with a gun at his side. Eight to 10 minutes later, appellant threw the gun aside and walked into the parking lot with his hands at his side. Deputy Long handcuffed him, allowed him to smoke a cigarette, and then put him in a patrol car.

During its direct examination, when the State asked Nieketi whether she was worried about appellant’s gun, she replied, “No not really, but I am scared of guns.” Nieketi further testified that appellant never threatened her or Rosemary, shouted at or argued with them, or pointed his gun at them. Nieketi later testified, however, that she did not feel that she could leave the apartment at any time because appellant said that he would not let her or Rosemary leave and that if she could have left the apartment with the children and Rosemary, she would have done so.

ANALYSIS

Appellant was charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping. A person commits kidnapping if he intentionally or knowingly abducts another person. Tex. PeN.Code Ann. § 20.03(a) (Vernon 2008). The Penal Code defines “abduct” as “to restrain a person with intent to prevent his liberation by: (A) secreting or holding him in a place where he is not likely to be found; or (B) using or threatening to use deadly force.” 4 Tex Pen.Code Ann. § 20.01(2) (Vernon Supp.2006). Under the Penal Code, “restrain” means “to restrict a person’s movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person’s liberty, by moving the person from one place to another or by confining the person.” Id. § 20.01(1) (Vernon Supp.2006). Restraint is “without consent” if it is accomplished by “force, intimidation, or deception.” Id. § 20.01(1)(A). Thus, kidnapping is a completed offense when (1) a restraint is accomplished and (2) there is evidence that the actor had the specific intent to prevent liberation by secretion or by the use or threatened use of deadly force. Santellan v. State, 939 S.W.2d 155, 162 (Tex.Crim.App.1997); see also Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 20.03 (Vernon 2003).

The offense of kidnapping is aggravated if abduction is committed with the specific *294 intent to commit any of the aggravating factors enumerated in section 20.04(a) of the Penal Code, including the intent to use the victim as a shield or hostage. See Tex. PeN.Code Asm. § 20.04(a) (Vernon 2003); Padgett v. State, 683 S.W.2d 453, 457 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 1983, no pet.). Under section 20.04 of the Texas Penal Code, a person commits aggravated kidnapping “if he intentionally or knowingly abducts another person with the intent to ... use him as a shield or hostage” 5 or “if he intentionally or knowingly abducts another person and uses or exhibits a deadly weapon during the commission of the offense.” 6

The indictment in cause number 1031071 charged appellant with “intentionally and knowingly abduct[ing] Nieketi Williamson ... without his [sic] consent, with intent to prevent his [sic] liberation by using and threatening to use deadly force namely, a firearm on [Nieketi] and with intent to use [Nieketi] as a hostage.” In cause number 1031072, the indictment charged appellant with “intentionally and knowingly ab-ductfing] Rosemary Williamson ... without his [sic] consent, with intent to prevent his [sic] liberation by using and threatening to use deadly force namely, a firearm, on [Rosemary] and with intent to use [Rosemary] as a hostage.” Thus, the State was required to prove with regard to each complainant that appellant (1) intentionally and knowingly restricted the complainant’s movement without her consent such that he substantially interfered with her liberty (2) with the intent (a) to prevent her liberation through the use and threatened use of a firearm on her and (b) to use her as a hostage.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

When an appellant challenges both the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence, we must first determine whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support the verdict. Harmond v. State, 960 S.W.2d 404, 406 (TexApp.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1998, no pet.).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 S.W.3d 291, 2007 WL 2390405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jenkins-v-state-texapp-2008.