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Lewis v. State

The defendant committed only one crime when he took cab fare money, a cell pone and a wallet from the victim.

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Fred Lewis was indicted for two counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, and one count of theft by taking. A jury found him guilty of one count of armed robbery, kidnapping, and theft by taking. As to the second armed robbery count, the jury found him guilty of theft by extortion, a lesser offense. The trial court subsequently sentenced Lewis on each count. He appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in failing to merge several of the convictions. For reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for resentencing. Viewed favorably to the verdict,1 the evidence shows that on April 28, 2001, Lewis hailed a taxi cab driven by Fred Copeland, who stopped for Lewis. As they drove into a secluded area, Lewis told Copeland to pull over, pulled a knife, and stated: “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Lewis ordered Copeland to give him the cab fare money located in Copeland’s shirt pocket, and Copeland complied. At that point, Lewis attempted to tie Copeland’s hands together, but was unsuccessful. He then placed Copeland in the taxi’s trunk, took the wheel, and drove away.

Once inside the trunk, Copeland remembered that he had a cellular phone in his pocket. He called the police, reported the robbery and his location, and called his office. Lewis overheard Copeland talking to his employer, stopped the car, opened the trunk, and took Copeland’s cell phone and wallet. Lewis also threatened to kill Copeland. Some time later, the police apprehended Lewis, who was still driving the taxi cab with Copeland inside the trunk.

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