LaPena v. State

OPINION

By the Court,

Mowbray, C. J.:

Frank LaPena appeals from his conviction, after a court trial, of second degree kidnaping and battery with the use of a deadly weapon. We consider several of appellant’s assignments of error as meritorious, and we therefore reverse the judgment of conviction and remand for a new trial.

THE FACTS

Around midnight on November 23, 1973, Willis Obenauer was abducted by two men as he returned to his apartment in Las Vegas. He was forced into his car at gunpoint, driven out into the desert, beaten, and shot once in each leg. The two men, Webb, the driver, and…