Centers

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney IssGeneral, Esteban Hernandez and Keith

I. Motley, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

RICHLI, J.

Victim Daniel Raines owed defendant Donald Lewis Centers (defendant) about $200 for an "eight-ball" of methamphetamine. Defendant barged into the house where Raines was hiding out from him and kidnapped Raines at gunpoint. He drove Raines around town, from pay phone to pay phone, while Raines tried to arrange payment of $200 in ransom. Defendant kept the loaded gun pointed at Raines most of this time and threatened to shoot him if he could not get the money, if he did anything "funny,"or if the police intervened. Defendant was captured, and Raines was freed, when the police raided the ransom "drop."

In the published portion of this opinion, we will hold there was sufficient evidence that defendant intentionally confined the victim in a manner which exposed the victim to a substantial likelihood of death, so as to support a sentence of life without the possibility…