State v. Saunders

— Ray Saunders appeals murder, rape, robbery, and kidnapping convictions. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to prove the robbery and kidnapping charges and he claims that the trial court improperly admitted his coerced statements, made evidentiary errors, and lacked judicial authority. Finally, he contends that his counsel was ineffective for, among other claims, failing to raise the issue of merger and same criminal conduct, and that there was cumulative error. We find no trial court error but agree that it was ineffective for defense counsel to fail to raise the issue of same…