As I was writing a brief this morning about alleged gang members arrested on suspicion of armed robbery I learned the legal meaning of the word "kidnap" is much broader than the one we commonly think of.
The robbery victim was dragged to an alley, but that was not what I would have thought of as a kidnapping.
If I say "kidnap," you probably think of a protracted hostage situation, right? I know the first thing that springs into my head when I hear that word is the recent rescue of hostages kidnapped years ago by the Colombian guerrilla organization, the FARC.
But I noticed this morning that the alleged gang members arrested could face charges of kidnap in addition to robbery, conspiracy and participation in a criminal street gang.
When I asked Cmdr. Tom Chronister of the Oxnard police why that was, he pointed out that distance isn't the issue. Kidnapping involves moving a person from one place to another against their will. Someone could, in theory, kidnap someone else from one part of a house to another part of a house, he said.
Here's the penal code section:
209. (a) Any person who seizes, confines, inveigles, entices, decoys, abducts, conceals, kidnaps or carries away another person by any means whatsoever with intent to hold or detain, or who holds or detains, that person for ransom, reward or to commit extortion or to exact from another person any money or valuable thing, or any person who aids or abets any such act, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole in cases in which any person subjected to any such act suffers death or bodily harm, or is intentionally confined in a manner which exposes that person to a substantial likelihood of death, or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole in cases where no such person suffers death or bodily harm.
Here are the stories I mentioned:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/23/no-headline---nxxfcmorningreport24/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/03/america/LA-Colombia-US-Hostages.php
The robbery victim was dragged to an alley, but that was not what I would have thought of as a kidnapping.
If I say "kidnap," you probably think of a protracted hostage situation, right? I know the first thing that springs into my head when I hear that word is the recent rescue of hostages kidnapped years ago by the Colombian guerrilla organization, the FARC.
But I noticed this morning that the alleged gang members arrested could face charges of kidnap in addition to robbery, conspiracy and participation in a criminal street gang.
When I asked Cmdr. Tom Chronister of the Oxnard police why that was, he pointed out that distance isn't the issue. Kidnapping involves moving a person from one place to another against their will. Someone could, in theory, kidnap someone else from one part of a house to another part of a house, he said.
Here's the penal code section:
209. (a) Any person who seizes, confines, inveigles, entices, decoys, abducts, conceals, kidnaps or carries away another person by any means whatsoever with intent to hold or detain, or who holds or detains, that person for ransom, reward or to commit extortion or to exact from another person any money or valuable thing, or any person who aids or abets any such act, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole in cases in which any person subjected to any such act suffers death or bodily harm, or is intentionally confined in a manner which exposes that person to a substantial likelihood of death, or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole in cases where no such person suffers death or bodily harm.
Here are the stories I mentioned:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/23/no-headline---nxxfcmorningreport24/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/03/america/LA-Colombia-US-Hostages.php
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