PC 207 Kidnapping -- Defined
(a) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any person in this state, and carries the person into another county, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(b) Every person, who for the purpose of committing any act defined in Section 288, hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any child under the age of 14 years to go out of this county, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(c) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, takes or holds, detains, or arrests any person, with a design to take them person out of this state, without having established a claim, according to the laws of the United States, or of this state, or who hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any person to go out of this state, or to be taken or removed therefrom for the purpose and with the intent to sell that person into slavery or involuntary servitude, or otherwise to employ that person for his or her own use, or to the use of another, without the free will and consent of the persuaded person, is guilty of kidnapping.
(d) Every person who, being out of this state, abducts or takes by force or fraud any person contrary to the law of the place where that act is committed, and brings, sends, or conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping.
(e) For purposes of those types of kidnapping requiring force, the amount of force required to kidnap an un-resisting infant or child is the amount of physical force required to take and carry the child away a substantial distance for an illegal purpose with an illegal intent.
(f) Subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, do not apply to any of the following:
(1) To any person who steals, takes, entices away, detains, conceals, or harbors any child under the age of 14 years, if that act is taken to protect the child from danger of imminent harm.
(2) to any Person acting under Section 834 or 837.
What is the punishment for violating the kidnapping law as to PC 207?
The sentencing triad for a violating of this penal code section is 3, 5, or 8 years in State prison. However, a grant of probation may be given which would include a year in county jail.
What are the elements of PC 207 Kidnapping?
1. Defendant unlawfully moved a person by use of force or by any other means of instilling fear.
2. The defendant moved the victim without his or her consent.
3. Defendant moved the Victim for a substantial distance, that is, a distance more than slight or trivial.
Have you been charged with kidnapping in Fresno County?
If you have been charged with violating PC 207, please contact our office for a free review of your case and its surrounding facts. You may need a criminal defendant attorney to help you with your situation.