Hager v. State
| Docket Number: | 2007-KA-00777-COA Linked Case(s): 2007-KA-00777-COA ; 2007-CT-00777-SCT |
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| Court of Appeals: |
Opinion Link Opinion Date: 05-20-2008 Opinion Author: GRIFFIS, J. Holding: Affirmed |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Kidnapping - Lesser offense instruction - Sufficiency of evidence Judge(s) Concurring: KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., IRVING, CHANDLER, BARNES, ISHEE, ROBERTS AND CARLTON, JJ. Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 04-18-2007 Appealed from: PEARL RIVER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Judge: R. I. Prichard, III Disposition: CONVICTED OF COUNT II, KIDNAPPING, AND SENTENCED TO THIRTY YEARS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, WITH TWENTY YEARS TO SERVE AND TEN YEARS SUSPENDED, WITH FIVE YEARS OF POST-RELEASE SUPERVISION District Attorney: Haldon J. Kittrell Case Number: K2006-035P |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | RICHARD HAGER |
KARL CRAWFORD HIGHTOWER |
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| Appellee: | STATE OF MISSISSIPPI | OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: TONYA MICHELLE BLAIR |
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Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Kidnapping - Lesser offense instruction - Sufficiency of evidence |
| Summary of the Facts: | Richard Hager was convicted of kidnapping and was sentenced to thirty years, with twenty years to serve and the remaining ten years suspended. He appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Issue 1: Lesser offense instruction Hager argues that a jury instruction regarding a lesser offense should have been given to the jury, because the jury was precluded from considering his theory of the case. Hager requested that the court instruct the jury as to the lesser non-included offense of unreasonable confinement of a vulnerable adult. The circuit judge refused this instruction because the crime of unreasonable confinement of a vulnerable adult is not a lesser-included offense of kidnapping. Lesser-offense instructions, even when they are the only instruction referencing the defendant’s theory of the case, may be refused when there is no evidentiary basis for such instruction. Thus, Hager must put forth evidence that would convince the jury to find him not guilty of kidnapping but guilty of the unreasonable confinement of a vulnerable adult. Hager admitted that he seized and confined the victim inside a room in the trailer. Hager did not deny locking the windows and doors or placing a board full of nails outside the room to keep the victim confined. Hager presented no evidence to negate an element of kidnapping that would have allowed the jury to find him not guilty of kidnapping, but at the same time, find him guilty of the unreasonable confinement of a vulnerable adult. Instead, the evidence seems to prove that Hager committed both offenses, and the accused is not entitled to the lesser-offense instruction where the evidence that proves the guilt of the lesser offense necessarily proves his guilt of the principal charge. Thus, the circuit court did not err by refusing the lesser-offense instruction. Issue 2: Sufficiency of evidence Hager argues that the State presented insufficient evidence to prove that he confined the victim by chasing him down, beating him, and/or threatening him with harm and thereafter keeping him imprisoned in a small bedroom of the mobile home. It is undisputed that Hager confined the victim against his will. Further, there is sufficient evidence that Hager confined the victim by chasing him down, beating him, and/or threatening him with harm and thereafter keeping him imprisoned in a small bedroom of the mobile home. Hager himself testified that upon finding that the victim had escaped again, he “ran him right back in” the mobile home. |
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