Appeals court reduces murder, kidnapping convictions

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A state appeals court has reduced murder and kidnapping convictions because of insufficient evidence.

Defendant Robert M. Collins was convicted in June 2010 before then-Ontario County Court Judge Craig J. Doran, of attempted first-degree murder, attempted first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree assault.

In a recent decision, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Fourth Department, reduced the conviction of attempted first-degree murder to attempted second-degree murder, and reduced the conviction of attempted first-degree kidnapping to attempted second-degree kidnapping.

The case was sent back to Ontario County Court for sentencing on attempted second-degree murder and attempted second-degree kidnapping.

Collins, a janitor in the building where the victim worked, was so obsessed with her that he tracked her to her home, according to the decision.

He hit the victim repeatedly with a wooden club, attempted to kidnap her and, when she began to flee, he pursued her until passersby stopped to assist her.

The police caught Collins the same day at his mobile home where they found a shotgun, a roll of duct tape, a roll of twine, a necktie, vinyl gloves, a wooden club, and a handwritten letter explaining that it was a “crime of passion” and that he intended to kill the victim.

The Fourth Department rejected an argument from Collins’ appellate attorney, Bradley E. Keem, that Doran should not have allowed into evidence photographs showing the victim’s injuries.

The court also rejected Keen’s argument that the conviction of first-degree assault was not supported by legally sufficient evidence and that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.

But the court agreed that there was legally insufficient evidence to support the attempted first-degree kidnapping and attempted first-degree murder convictions.

The attempted first-degree kidnapping count required the prosecutor to prove that Collins attempted to abduct the victim and restrain her for more than 12 hours with the intent to inflict physical injury or sexually abuse her.

But the prosecution produced no evidence that Collins intended to hold the victim for more than 12 hours.

The evidence showed that, before the attempted kidnapping, Collins emptied his trailer of his possessions except for the bed, a shotgun, duct tape, twine, the necktie, vinyl gloves, and certain personal items of the victim.

There was no evidence that the trailer had any food or beverages inside, other than a mostly-consumed bottle of scotch, the court wrote.

According to the decision, Collins planned to bring the victim to his residence and “reason” with her. He planned to kill her and kill himself if he was unsuccessful.

The court found that there was no valid line of reasoning and inference from which a rational jury could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, the element of intent to restrain for more than 12 hours.

“Inasmuch as the attempted murder in the first degree count in the indictment required proof that the attempted murder was committed in the course of, and in furtherance of attempted kidnapping in the first degree, the evidence with respect to that count is likewise insufficient,” the court wrote.

“On this record, we conclude that the evidence is legally sufficient to support a conviction of the lesser included offenses of attempted kidnapping in the second degree, and attempted murder in the second degree,” the court wrote.

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