People v. Isitt

55 Cal. App. 3d 23, 127 Cal. Rptr. 279
California Court of Appeal·Decided February 2, 1976·No. 8001·Published·Cited by 35 cases

Opinion

55 Cal.App.3d 23 (1976)
127 Cal. Rptr. 279

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
RALPH W. ISITT, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. 8001.

Court of Appeals of California, Third District.

February 2, 1976.

*26 COUNSEL

Philip M. Farley, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, Jack R. Winkler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Arnold O. Overoye, Assistant Attorney General, Roger E. Venturi, Peter J. McBrien, Eddie T. Keller and Joel Carey, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

PUGLIA, P.J.

Defendant Ralph W. Isitt, plead guilty to kidnaping for robbery with bodily harm (Pen. Code, § 209),[1] robbery in the first degree *27 (§§ 211, 211a) and assault to rob (§ 220). He was charged with and admitted being armed with (§§ 3024 and 12022) and having used (§ 12022.5) a firearm in the commission of each offense. He was sentenced to the state prison for each offense for the terms prescribed by law as augmented by the above indicated provisions relating to possession and use of a firearm. Since the offenses all involved the same victim and constituted parts of a single transaction, the trial court ordered the "Execution of sentences relative to [robbery and assault to rob] ... suspended at this time." (§ 654.) Defendant is thus serving a term of imprisonment for life without possibility of parole (§ 209), "augmented" by the provisions of sections 12022 and 12022.5.[2]

On appeal, defendant challenges the constitutionality of the term of imprisonment — life without possibility of parole — imposed for kidnaping for robbery with bodily harm, contending that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (Cal. Const., art. I, § 6) and denies him equal protection of the law (U.S. Const., Amend. XIV). Additionally, defendant asserts that the trial court erred in declining to apply the provisions of section 1202b to his sentence.

I.

Recently this court had occasion to consider a constitutional attack upon the punishment for violation of section 209 with bodily harm identical to that maintained in the present appeal. (In re Maston (1973) 33 Cal. App.3d 559 [109 Cal. Rptr. 164], hg. den.) Applying the criteria announced in In re Lynch (1972) 8 Cal.3d 410 [105 Cal. Rptr. 217, 503 P.2d 921], we rejected the constitutional challenge. For similar reasons we reject the identical claims here.

The statutory penalty for violation of section 209, unlike the penalties under scrutiny in In re Lynch, supra, 8 Cal.3d 410, In re Foss (1974) 10 Cal.3d 910 [112 Cal. Rptr. 649, 519 P.2d 1073], People v. Wingo (1975) 14 Cal.3d 169 [121 Cal. Rptr. 97, 534 P.2d 1001] and In re Rodriguez (1975) *28 14 Cal.3d 639 [122 Cal. Rptr. 552, 537 P.2d 384], does not fall within the provisions of the indeterminate sentence law (§ 1168; People v. Vaile (1935) 2 Cal.2d 441, 445 [42 P.2d 321]). Accordingly, we are limited to an inquiry whether the maximum term mandated by law is constitutionally disproportionate to the offense of aggravated kidnaping. Our consideration of this issue commences with the recognition that kidnaping for robbery involves "a single mode of behavior" (People v. Wingo, supra, 14 Cal.3d at p. 176). A brief summary of decisions interpreting section 209 will suffice to demonstrate that proposition.

(1) An element of the crime of kidnap for robbery is the specific intent to rob. (People v. Laursen (1972) 8 Cal.3d 192 [104 Cal. Rptr. 425, 501 P.2d 1145]; People v. Smith (1963) 223 Cal. App.2d 225, 232 [35 Cal. Rptr. 719].) That crime, however, is not committed unless the intent is formed before the kidnap commences (People v. Tribble (1971) 4 Cal.3d 826, 829 [94 Cal. Rptr. 613, 484 P.2d 589]) and the asportation is undertaken with that intent and purpose in mind (People v. Thornton (1974) 11 Cal.3d 738, 769-770 [114 Cal. Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267]).

(2) To constitute a kidnap for robbery, the asportation of the victim must be accomplished by force or threat of force. The use of fraud or deceit to induce the movement is insufficient. (People v. Stephenson (1974) 10 Cal.3d 652, 659-660 [111 Cal. Rptr. 556, 517 P.2d 820]; People v. Rhoden (1972) 6 Cal.3d 519, 527-528 [99 Cal. Rptr. 751, 492 P.2d 1143].) A fortiori, movement of the victim with his consent does not constitute kidnaping (People v. Rhoden, supra, at p. 526; People v. Mayberry (1975) 15 Cal.3d 143, 153-154 [125 Cal. Rptr. 745, 542 P.2d 1337]). Furthermore, the defendant's reasonable good faith belief that the victim has voluntarily consented to accompany him constitutes a complete defense to the charge of kidnaping. (People v. Mayberry, supra, 15 Cal.3d at p. 155.)

(3) Moreover, the crime of kidnap for robbery is not committed where the movement of the victim is only incidental to the commission of the underlying crime of robbery. To constitute the crime of kidnap for robbery the movement of the victim must be such as to increase substantially the risk of harm to the victim over and above that necessarily present in the crime of robbery itself. (People v. Daniels (1969) 71 Cal.2d 1119, 1139-1140 [80 Cal. Rptr. 897, 459 P.2d 225, 43 A.L.R.3d 677].) A slight increase in the risk of harm will not suffice. (People v. Cleveland (1972) 27 Cal. App.3d 820, 825 [104 Cal. Rptr. 161].) Movement incidental to the robbery within the premises in which the *29 victim is initially accosted does not necessarily create a substantial increase in the risk of harm. (People v. Mutch (1971) 4 Cal.3d 389, 398 [93 Cal. Rptr. 721, 482 P.2d 633].) Neither does movement of the victim to a place obscured from public view in itself substantially increase the risk of harm. (In re Crumpton (1973) 9 Cal.3d 463, 467 [106 Cal. Rptr. 770, 507 P.2d 74].) Even movement of the victim more extended than that incidental to the commission of a robbery does not fall within the ambit of the crime of kidnap for robbery unless it also substantially increases the risk of harm to the victim beyond that inherent in the crime of robbery. (In re Earley (1975) 14 Cal.3d 122, 127-128 [120 Cal. Rptr. 881, 534 P.2d 721].)

As can be seen, the crime of kidnap for robbery does not embrace a broad spectrum of unlawful conduct. Even so, within the offense as narrowly defined, rational gradations of culpability can be made based on the amount of harm to the victim.

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People v. Isitt, 55 Cal. App. 3d 23, 127 Cal. Rptr. 279 (Cal. Ct. App. 1976).

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