Court of Appeals of New York

In a case in which a custodial parent held a knife to his child and threatened to murder her if anyone tried to take her from him, his conviction for kidnapping is affirmed, where: 1) a defendant's conduct can be so obviously and unjustifiably dangerous or harmful to the child as to be inconsistent with the idea of lawful custody; 2) the defendant's restriction of his daughter's movements was unlawful; 3) the defendant could not consent to his restriction of his daughter's movements, because at the time of the crime he did not have "lawful control or custody" of his daughter; and 4) the unlawfulness was blatant enough to justify the inference that the defendant knew he was acting unlawfully.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/31/2012
• Published 05/31/2012

Judges

• Smith

Court

• Court of Appeals of New York

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Stuart M. Cohen, Joan Gudesblatt Lamb