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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. THOMAS DE SOTO, Appellant.

Judgment affirmed.

Defendant was charged, inter alia, with kidnapping two individuals, Linda Reyes and Patricia Hilburn. The jury acquitted defendant of both kidnapping counts involving Linda Reyes, but convicted him of one of the kidnapping charges involving Patricia Hilburn. On appeal, defendant claims that the differing verdicts as regards each of the two complainants are repugnant.

Initially, it should be noted that defendant failed to raise an appropriate objection before the jury was dismissed, and is thereby precluded from raising this issue on the appeal ( People v Satloff, 56 N.Y.2d 745; People v. Stahl, 53 N.Y.2d 1048; People v. Howard, 107 A.D.2d 712; People v. Holmes, 104 A.D.2d 1049). However, even were we to consider the merits, it is clear that there is no repugnancy.

Defendant also maintains that the crime of kidnapping in the first degree merged with the crime of promoting prostitution in the second degree. Both this court and the Court of Appeals have concluded that the merger doctrine is inapplicable to the crime of kidnapping in the first degree as defined in Penal Law § 135.25 (2), since the Legislature has specifically declared that an abduction for one of the several enumerated purposes which lasts in excess of 12 hours is punishable as a kidnapping ( People v. Cassidy, 40 N.Y.2d 763, 765-766; People v. Pellot, 105 A.D.2d 223, 230-231). Accordingly, there was no merger in the case at bar.

Defendant's other contentions have been considered and have been found to be without merit. Lazer, J.P., Gibbons, Weinstein and Lawrence, JJ., concur.

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PEOPLE v. DE SOTO
(Jul 29, 1985)