People v. Lee CA2/5

INTRODUCTION

A jury found defendants Brendan Lee (Lee) and Jayvion Ross (Ross) guilty of, inter alia, kidnapping for robbery. On appeal, defendants argue that the trial court committed prejudicial error when it failed to define accurately the asportation element of kidnapping for robbery. Defendants further contend that even if the trial court did not commit prejudicial instructional error, they received ineffective assistance of counsel or that the cumulative effect of the nonprejudicial errors deprived them of their due process rights. Defendants also argue that their respective abstracts of judgment contain clerical errors that must be corrected on remand. The Attorney General agrees that the trial court’s definition of the asportation element of kidnapping for robbery was erroneous, but nevertheless maintains that the error was harmless. The Attorney General also agrees that there are clerical errors in the abstracts of judgment that require correction on remand. We conclude that because the challenged instructional error was harmless, each of defendants’ contentions based on that error are unavailing. We also agree that the abstracts of judgment should be corrected on remand…