Brown v. Commonwealth

In Brown v. Commonwealth, 230 Va. 310, 337 S.E.2d 711 (1985), the Supreme Court of Virginia held as follows: Detention is a discrete species of abduction. We are of opinion, however, that in the enactment of the abduction statute the General Assembly did not intend to make the kind of restraint which is an intrinsic element of crimes such as rape, robbery, and assault a criminal act, punishable as a separate offense. . . . We hold, therefore, that one accused of abduction by detention and another crime involving restraint of the victim, both growing out of a continuing course of conduct, is subject upon conviction to separate penalties for separate offenses only when the detention committed in the act of abduction is separate and apart from, and not merely incidental to, the restraint employed in the commission of the other crime. Id. at 314, 337 S.E.2d at 713-14. The Court held that one accused of abduction by detention and another crime involving restraint of the victim, both growing out of a continuing course of conduct, is subject upon conviction to separate penalties for separate offenses only when the detention committed in the act of abduction is separate and apart from, and not merely incidental to, the restraint employed in the commission of the other crime. Id. at 314, 337 S.E.2d at 713-14. "In Brown v. Commonwealth, the Supreme Court recognized that 'in the enactment of the abduction statute the General Assembly did not intend to make the kind of restraint which is an intrinsic element of . . . robbery . . . a criminal act, punishable as a separate offense.'" Phoung v. Commonwealth, 15 Va. App. 457, 461, 424 S.E.2d 712, 714 (1992) (quoting Brown, 230 Va. at 314, 337 S.E.2d at 713 (1985)).