kidnapping Jaffe with the intent to cause him to be unlawfully transported out of Canada against his will.

Kear, the only one of the two defendants to testify during the trial, said he believed at the time he had acted legally. He said it never dawned on him that the bail bonding contract authorizing the arrest of Jaffe if he failed to appear for trial might not apply in Canada.

But Judge Callaghan told the jury that ignorance of the law was no excuse. That left the jury to decide another key issue: whether Jaffe willingly returned with the two accused men to Florida, as they maintained.

Jaffe testified that he screamed for help, was beaten to prevent his escape and spent much of the trip to Florida in handcuffs.

Prosecutor GlenOrr contended that it made no sense for Jaffe to ''give up and go along like a pussycat'' once Kear and Johnsen told him of their intentions.

After all, Jaffe failed to return to Florida for trial and ''picked and clawed'' to stay away, he said.

But lawyers for Johnsen and Kear told the jury there was no struggle because Jaffe believed -- as did Johnsen and Kear -- that the bonding contract allowed the men to return him to Florida.

''He knew what the agreement meant and that he was going back to Florida,'' Gold told the jury. ''There was no fighting, no assaults.''