People v. Eid

Opinion

LIU, J.

Defendants were charged with kidnapping for ransom, which is punishable by life in prison. The jury instead convicted each of them of two lesser included offenses — felony attempted extortion and misdemeanor false imprisonment — which resulted in a sentence of four and a half years in custody. The Court of Appeal held that each defendant could be convicted of only one lesser included offense and struck the convictions for misdemeanor false imprisonment, thus reducing each defendant’s sentence to two and a half years. As explained below, defendants were properly convicted of both…