State of Connecticut v. Luis Neftali Flores

Summary

The court reversed the defendant’s kidnapping conviction because the jury was not instructed to determine whether the restraint of the victim had independent criminal significance beyond the restraint necessary to commit the robbery, and the instructional error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. It rejected the defendant’s challenges to the conspiracy, robbery, larceny, and burglary instructions because the charge as a whole adequately guided the jury or any omission could not have affected the verdict. The judgment was therefore affirmed in all respects except the kidnapping conviction, for which a new trial was ordered.