Kidnapping Lawyer in Kansas City, MO

Kidnapping Offenses in the Missouri Revised Statutes

The Missouri Revised Statutes contain several offenses called “kidnapping,” along with several that include similar elements but are called something else, such as “child abduction.” Here are the charges you might face when you’re accused of committing or attempting to kidnap someone.

First-Degree Kidnapping

First-degree kidnapping occurs when someone unlawfully removes or confines someone else without their consent for a “substantial period.” The law doesn’t define “substantial.” However, the prosecution must prove that the removal or confinement was real and significant, not brief or momentary.

To qualify as a first-degree offense, the removal or confinement must fall into one of the following categories:

• Holding the victim for reward or ransom
• Holding the victim hostage or using them as a shield
• Interfering with a government or political operation
• Facilitating a felony or the flight after a felony
• Inflicting a physical injury or terror on the victim or another, such as the victim’s spouse

The removal or confinement must constitute an independent offense to support this charge.

Suppose that the accused grabbed the victim’s shirt while assaulting them. This sort of restraint would likely constitute part of the assault rather than a separate kidnapping offense.

By contrast, imagine that the accused committed a bank robbery and took a customer hostage to facilitate their escape. In this case, the removal is separate from the robbery and could therefore justify a first-degree kidnapping charge.

Second-Degree Kidnapping

Second-degree kidnapping happens when someone knowingly and unlawfully restrains another person without their consent. The restraint must satisfy both of the following elements:

• Substantially interfere with the victim’s liberty
• Expose the victim to a substantial risk of serious physical injury

Serious physical injury includes any physical condition that causes a substantial risk of death, serious disfigurement, or a protracted functional impairment of a body part.

For example, a second-degree offense might occur when someone is kidnapped and left in an abandoned warehouse after being released. Even if the victim doesn’t suffer an injury, they might have been exposed to a risk of injury due to thirst, hunger, or exposure.

Third-Degree Kidnapping

Third-degree kidnapping is similar to the second-degree offense without the injury risk. Specifically, this offense occurs when someone restrains another person knowingly, unlawfully, and without consent, substantially interfering with their liberty. This is a catch-all offense for any situation in which one person restrains another.

Child Kidnapping

Child kidnapping takes place when a non-relative knowingly and without the parents’ consent removes or confines a child under 14. Under Missouri law, a non-relative is anyone who isn’t a third-degree relative.

A parent is a first-degree relative. A sibling or a grandparent is a second-degree relative. Great-grandparents, uncles, and aunts are third-degree relatives. Anyone more remote is considered a non-relative, even if they’re within the child’s family. Cousins, for example, are fourth-degree relatives and could be charged with this offense.

Parental Kidnapping

Parental kidnapping occurs when a person with custody removes, detains, or conceals their child without good cause to deprive another person or a public agency of their custody rights. If the accused has no custody rights, they would commit interference with custody rather than this offense.

Child Abduction

Although this offense doesn’t contain the word “kidnapping,” it has similar elements. Child abduction occurs when someone does any of the following:

• Takes or detains a child from a parent after notice of a divorce or paternity suit
• Fails to return a child to Missouri when out-of-state visitation ends
• Conceals, detains, or removes a child on behalf of someone without custody
• Retains a child in Missouri who was unlawfully removed from another state
• Removes, detains, or conceals a child without good cause to deprive another person of custody

Except for the fifth criterion, which can only be committed by someone with custody, someone with or without a custodial right can commit child abduction.

Defenses Against Kidnapping Charges in Kansas City, MO

The criminal defense strategies that may be used to address kidnap charges include the following.

Shopkeeper’s Privilege

Merchants have a limited right to detain someone when they have reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe that the person stole something. The detention must be reasonable in manner and duration. As such, holding a shoplifter in a back office for 30 minutes while you call the police might qualify as shopkeeper’s privilege.

Custody or Guardianship

In cases involving a child or ward, you can defend yourself by proving that you had the legal right to custody or guardianship or permission from the legal custodian or guardian.

This defense may not apply to custodial-interference cases, where you share custody and attempt to deprive the other person of their custody right. However, it would apply if, for example, you send your child to their room as punishment or lock the doors so an elderly parent with dementia can’t leave the house.

Consent

Consent can overcome some kidnapping charges. For example, an adult who agrees to go somewhere with you can’t later claim to have been kidnapped unless the agreement was coerced or they changed their mind and you refused to release them.

Importantly, assent isn’t the same as agreement. A child or mentally incompetent adult can’t give consent, even if they agree to go with you, because they lack legal capacity. However, a parent or legal guardian can consent on their behalf.

Necessity

Necessity can be a valid defense to kidnapping charges. For example, suppose that there was a tornado warning and an area needed to be evacuated. You saw a child alone on the street and drove them to the tornado shelter. After the storm passed, you contacted the police to help locate the child’s family.

In this case, you could assert that it was necessary to take the child to the tornado shelter to protect them.

Lack of Intent

Prosecutors must prove that you knowingly removed or confined the victim. You may have a defense if the removal or detention was accidental. For instance, you likely would have lacked the intent to kidnap if you locked your office building without realizing that a customer was in the bathroom.

Penalties Upon Conviction for Kidnapping in Kansas City, MO

The punishment for a kidnapping conviction depends on the charge, as follows:

• First-Degree or Child Kidnapping: 10–30 years
• Second-Degree Kidnapping: Up to seven years
• Child Abduction or Parental Kidnapping: Up to three years
• Third-Degree Kidnapping: Up to one year

A conviction can also result in mandatory sex offender registration. Specifically, kidnapping of an adult motivated by sex, kidnapping of a child, and child kidnapping are registrable offenses.