Supreme Court of California

A court of appeals' affirmance of a rape conviction and reversal of kidnapping and murder convictions is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the trial court did not err in failing to instruct the jury, sua sponte, that a reasonable yet mistaken belief the victim consented to have sexual intercourse was a defense to a charge of rape; 2) defendant's forced movement of the victim was sufficient to satisfy the asportation requirement of aggravated kidnapping; and 3) any error in the trial court's failure in the case to instruct the jury on nonkiller liability under the felony-murder rule was harmless.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/28/2006
• Published 08/28/2006

Judges

• WERDEGAR, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Dallas Sacher, Santa Clara, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Manuel M. Medeiros, State Solicitor General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Ronald A. Bass and Gerald A. Engler, Assistant Attorneys General, Laurence K. Sullivan, Eric D. Share and John H. Deist, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.