Criminal Practice – Kidnapping – ‘Released in a Safe Place’ – Wooded Area

State v. Gordon (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-243-16, 16 pp.) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from Guilford County Superior Court (R. Stuart Albright, J.) N.C. App.

Holding: Even though defendant released the victim not too far from the victim’s apartment, since the state presented evidence that the area was wooded and secluded and that the victim had to cross a four-lane highway to get home, a jury could find that defendant did not release the victim in a safe place.

We find no error in defendant’s convictions of attempted first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree sexual offense.

Defendant argues that the victim, “Sue,” was released in a safe place because she was released in daylight hours in an area she was familiar with, with her clothes and her cell phone, and she was able to walk across a highway into her back yard to her apartment.

However, defendant left Sue in a clearing in the woods located near, but not easily visible from, a service road that extended off an exit ramp for Business Interstate 85. Deputies described the area as “very, very remote” and “very, very secluded … at that time of the year, it was a very, very wooded area, it’s almost impossible to see from the highway….” After the assault concluded, Sue, in a traumatized state, had to walk out of the clearing, down an embankment, and across a four-lane highway to get to her apartment.

Defendant did not take any affirmative steps to release Sue in a location where she was no longer exposed to harm. He chose to abandon Sue in the same secluded location in which he had chosen to assault her.

This evidence is sufficient to permit a reasonable juror to infer that the victim was not “released by the defendant in a safe place” within the meaning and intent of that phrase as used in G.S. § 14-39(b). Therefore, the trial court did not err by denying defendant’s motions to dismiss the first-degree kidnapping charge.

No error.