State v. Brent

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

In this appeal we consider whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury at defendant’s request on the offense of criminal restraint as a lesser-included offense of kidnapping. The jury convicted defendant of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree aggravated sexual assault. The Appellate Division reversed the kidnapping conviction, holding that the trial court had improperly declined to give the criminal-restraint charge, because in the Appellate Division’s view the evidence provided a basis for the charge and defendant had…