What Is Kidnapping in Oklahoma?

So, kidnapping is defined in Oklahoma as seizing, confining, abducting, or carrying a person away without legal authority to do so. And you have to have the intent, that’s an important one, remember that word intent, to confine that person against their will in some way. So that’s important, and there are several elements to a kidnapping that the state is going to have to prove in order to land a conviction on you because this is what’s known as a specific intent crime. You have to specifically intend to do all of these things, okay?

So first, it has to be the unlawful seizure of another person with the intent, once more with that word, to hold that person against their will. All four of those beyond a reasonable doubt and you can be convicted of this, okay? So common examples of this that I see, are if you are the non-custodial parent of a child and you take that child out of the state and you don’t bring them back when you’re supposed to or when you agreed to do so or against the will of the custodial parent, kidnapping. That’s kidnapping. You’ve kidnapped your own child, and I think I did a previous video on that, so be careful with that one. And that’s probably the most innocuous and innocent one, and then it goes all the way across the spectrum to human trafficking, which is obviously kidnapping because you’re trafficking a person.

Now, you’re not without defenses in this. Notice, I kept harping on the fact that it has to be intentional. This is specific intent, and so one of your strongest defenses is going to be a lack of intent. You didn’t mean to seize the person, you didn’t mean to keep that person against their will, they could leave whenever they want to, okay? Now, whether that works or not is going to be completely up to whether your attorney is up to snuff on that.

Another common defense is consent. The person you were absconding with, the person you were taking away, allegedly, wanted to be so. That one’s a hard one because consent isn’t always available. So if the person you abducted or kidnapped is under the age of 12, that defense is not available, okay? So under 12 can’t consent to it.

And this is not a simple misdemeanor, this is a felony, okay? If convicted, you can face a minimum of a year in prison and a maximum of 20. So not one to just take on the chin.

If you want to speak to an attorney about this, you have further questions on kidnapping, or any criminal matter, you can call me. My name is one is, once more, OKC criminal defense lawyer Ty Smith, I’m with Wirth Law Office. You can find me at TheOklahomaCityAttorney.com, or you can call my office at (405) 888-5400 and I’d be glad to speak with you.