Jefferson County Missouri Kidnapping Lawyer

A person commits the offense of child abduction if he or she:

• Intentionally takes, detains, entices, conceals or removes a child from a parent after being served with process in an action affecting marriage or paternity but prior to the issuance of a temporary or final order determining custody; or

• At the expiration of visitation rights outside the state, intentionally fails or refuses to return or impedes the return of the child to the legal custodian in Missouri; or

• Conceals, detains, or removes the child for payment or promise of payment at the instruction of a person who has no legal right to custody; or

• Retains in this state for thirty days a child removed from another state without the consent of the legal custodian or in violation of a valid court order of custody; or

• Having legal custody of the child pursuant to a valid court order, removes, takes, detains, conceals or entices away that child within or without the state, without good cause, and with the intent to deprive the custody or visitation rights of another person, without obtaining written consent.

The offense of child abduction is a class E felony.

A person commits the offense of child kidnapping if he or she is not a relative of the child within the third degree and, knowing he or she has no right to do so, removes a child under the age of fourteen without consent of the child’s parents or guardian, or confines such child for a substantial period of time without such consent.

The offense of child kidnapping is a class A felony.

A person commits the offense of interference with custody if, knowing that he or she has no legal right to do so, he or she takes or entices from legal custody any person entrusted by order of a court to the custody of another person or institution.

The offense of interference with custody is a class A misdemeanor unless the person taken or enticed away from legal custody is removed from this state, detained in another state or concealed, in which case it is a class E felony.

A person commits the offense of kidnapping in the first degree if he or she unlawfully removes another person without his or her consent from the place where he or she is found or unlawfully confines another person without his or her consent for a substantial period, for the purpose of: (1) Holding that person for ransom or reward, or for any other act to be performed or not performed for the return or release of that person; or (2) Using the person as a shield or as a hostage; or (3) Interfering with the performance of any governmental or political function; or (4) Facilitating the commission of any felony or flight thereafter; or (5) Inflicting physical injury on or terrorizing the victim or another.

The offense of kidnapping in the first degree is a class A felony unless committed under subdivision (4) or (5) of subsection 1 of this section in which cases it is a class B felony.

A person commits the offense of kidnapping in the second degree if he or she knowingly restrains another unlawfully and without consent so as to interfere substantially with his or her liberty and exposes him or her to a substantial risk of serious physical injury.

The offense of kidnapping in the second degree is a class D felony.

A person commits the offense of kidnapping in the third degree if he or she knowingly restrains another unlawfully and without consent so as to interfere substantially with his or her liberty.

The offense of kidnapping in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor unless the person unlawfully restrained is removed from this state, in which case it is a class E felony.

In the absence of a court order determining rights of custody or visitation to a child, a person having a right of custody of the child commits the offense of parental kidnapping if he or she removes, takes, detains, conceals, or entices away that child within or without the state, without good cause, and with the intent to deprive the custody right of another person or a public agency also having a custody right to that child.

Parental kidnapping is a class E felony, unless committed by detaining or concealing the whereabouts of the child for: (1) Not less than sixty days but not longer than one hundred nineteen days, in which case, the offense is a class D felony; (2) Not less than one hundred twenty days, in which case, the offense is a class B felony.