The kidnapping may be merely a means to achieve an end

Typically, a kidnapping occurs when someone forces, intimidates, or uses violence against someone else, with the intent to move them from one place to another, and without their consent. A kidnapping that occurs during the commission of a carjacking maybe, however, unplanned and purely based on the circumstances and the kidnapping may be merely a means to achieve an end.

Kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking is a form of aggravated kidnapping, which involves the commission of another crime – carjacking — as the target offense. Therefore, the punishment for this offense is more serious than for simple kidnapping which means that a conviction for this offense subjects you to more severe penalties.

An incident which occurred in Florida last fall exemplifies the crime of kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking.

Daytona Beach police reported that a fleeing burglary suspect ran through Bethune-Cookman University’s campus and came upon a woman sitting in a car with her 1-month-old.

Police Chief Mike Chitwood said the suspect forced the woman to get out and wouldn’t let her take her baby with her. Officers chased the suspect until he crashed into a parked dump truck. The baby was not injured.

How Kidnapping During the Commission of Carjacking is Defined

Under Penal Code section 209.5, kidnapping during the commission of carjacking entails the act kidnapping a person to facilitate the commission of the carjacking. Pen. Code 209(b) provides that the requirements of the offense include that the defendant use force or fear to move the victim a substantial distance. Force or fear means that the defendant either used actual physical force upon the alleged victim to move the victim or physically threatened the victim and/or the victim’s family. The movement must have been more than merely brief and incidental to the commission of the carjacking.

Kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking is a violent felony. A defendant convicted of Penal Code 290.5 PC, will not only face life in prison with the possibility of parole, but will also have a “strike” on their record under to California’s three strikes law. As a three strikes case, a conviction also means that those convicted must serve at least 85% of their sentence before they will be eligible for parole.

Daniel R. Perlman
The Law Offices of Daniel R. Perlman
https://www.danielperlmanlaw.com