State v. Ibabao

In this criminal case, defendant appeals the trial court’s judgment, which convicted him of, among other crimes, four counts of kidnapping in the first degree (Counts 13-16).1 On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal on the kidnapping counts. Defendant argues, and the state concedes, that the trial court should have granted his motion because the record does not contain sufficient evidence to establish the asportation element of kidnapping. For the reasons explained below, we agree and, therefore, we reverse the judgment as to…