Motion of Acquittal on a Kidnapping Charge Because the Victim Had Initially Gone Willingly With the Defendant

In Gore v. State, 599 So. 2d 978 (Fla. 1992) the Court affirmed the trial court's denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal on a kidnapping charge, even though the victim, whose body was found in Florida, had initially gone willingly with the defendant when they left a party together in Cleveland, Tennessee. Id. at 985. The Court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to deny the motion because it showed that the victim had planned to return home at some point on the night she was with the defendant and because a shoestring found tied around her wrist indicated that she had been held against her will. Id.; See also: Schwab v. State, 636 So. 2d 3, 6 (Fla. 1994) (after victim's nude body was found in a footlocker in a remote location, and evidence revealed that victim died from manual asphyxiation, we concluded that "although the victim may have gone willingly with Schwab initially, the conclusion that at some point he was held against his will is inescapable"); Peede v. State, 474 So. 2d 808 (Fla. 1985) (motion for judgment of acquittal on kidnapping charge properly denied where evidence indicated that although victim went willingly with defendant, she had no intention of leaving Miami or Florida, and her body was recovered in Georgia); Anderson v. State, 841 So. 2d 390 (Fla. 2003) (evidence insufficient to prove kidnapping because victim went willingly with defendant, and no evidence indicated that she ever tried to escape), cert. denied 540 U.S. 956, 124 S. Ct. 408, 157 L. Ed. 2d 292 (2003).