In 1993, appellant Gregory A. Levin broke into the home of his ex-wife and held her hostage for 12 hours. In 1994, in regard to that incident, appellant was convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault, burglary, two counts of simple assault lesser included of cruelty to children and aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm during a crime, and making harassing phone calls. He was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and a consecutive term of 48 years for his other crimes, except for the aggravated battery conviction which was merged into the kidnapping conviction. His convictions were affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part by the Court of Appeals in Levin v. State, 222 Ga. App. 123 473 SE2d 582 1996.1 In 2012, appellant petitioned for habeas relief alleging that the State failed to prove asportation as per this Court’s decision in Garza v. State, 284 Ga. 696 670 SE2d 73 2008. The habeas court concluded the asportation requirement was met under Garza. We granted review of the habeas court’s denial of relief, posing the following question: “Did the habeas Court err when it held that the evidence of asportation was sufficient to support the appellant’s conviction for kidnapping with bodily injury See Garza v. State, 284 Ga. 696 670 SE2d 73 2008.” Because we answer the question in affirmative, the judgment of the habeas court is reversed and the case is remanded with direction.
The record shows that the victim was asleep in her bedroom when her 12-year-old daughter heard appellant banging on the back door of their small duplex apartment. The daughter ran into the bedroom, woke her mother, and closed and locked the bedroom door. Determining that they could not leave the bedroom because the windows were painted shut, the victim called police. While the victim was on the phone with authorities, appellant entered the house and proceeded to punch through the bedroom door so he could unlock it. The daughter testified that when appellant entered the bedroom he had a hammer and a gun in his hands. The victim was able to tell police about the gun before appellant snatched the phone away from her and hung it up. When the phone rang immediately after having been placed on its cradle, appellant destroyed it. Appellant told the daughter to leave the house and she did so. As she ran out of the house police were arriving on the scene. After the daughter left and while still in the victim’s bedroom, appellant held the gun to the victim’s head, made threats, and slapped her. He also hit the victim on the back with an unattached bureau mirror, pistol whipped her, and kicked her in the stomach. Then he started destroying the bedroom furniture. At some point, the police used a public address system, instructing appellant to call them so they could negotiate the victim’s release. Having destroyed the phone in the bedroom, appellant dragged the victim by the neck and at gun point to the living room in order to retrieve a working telephone. Upon retrieving the telephone, he took the victim back to the bedroom. At that point, he also barricaded the front and back doors of the apartment.
