Nature of the Case
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Facts
D was living with his girlfriend and their child. While walking near the school, the girlfriend was robbed and raped by a young black male who held a straight-edged razor to her throat. During the one half hour encounter, she observed her attacker's features and later that night described him and the clothes he was wearing to the police. She described the assailant, with specific identifiable features, to D. D went looking for the attacker. D and a friend, Otha Cannon, went walking in the vicinity where the rape and robbery had occurred. D saw a man he thought matched the description of the assailant. D and Cannon confronted the suspect in an alleyway. The suspect denied any involvement in the robbery or rape and attempted to flee and a fight ensued. D beat him about the face, eye, chest and head with his fist and a blunt instrument, knocking him to the ground. D gave a knife to Cannon and told him to stay with the suspect to prevent his escape while D went to get his girlfriend for an ID. While waiting for D to return, the suspect was reaching for something in his pocket, and apparently charged at Cannon. Cannon held out the knife and fatally stabbed the suspect. The victim had a straight-edged razor in his pocket which was later identified by D's girlfriend as the one wielded by her assailant during the rape incident. D was charged with one count of second degree kidnapping, one count of second degree assault, one count of first degree manslaughter, one count of carrying a dangerous weapon, one count of hindering prosecution in the first degree, one count of being an accessory to second degree kidnapping, one count of being an accessory to second degree assault, and one count of being an accessory to first degree manslaughter. At the close of P's case D moved for a judgment of acquittal, which the trial court granted as to the count of carrying a dangerous weapon. The state then filed a substitute amended information charging the defendant with kidnapping in the second degree, assault in the second degree, manslaughter in the first degree and being an accessory to kidnapping in the second degree, being an accessory to assault in the second degree, and being an accessory to manslaughter in the first degree. The jury found D guilty of kidnapping in the second degree, assault in the third degree and being an accessory to criminally negligent homicide. D filed motions for acquittal and in arrest of judgment, in that there was no such crime as being an accessory to criminally negligent homicide. The court denied both motions. D appealed.
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