3.22Kidnapping
The crime of kidnapping, while sexually-neutral in title and substance, may be committed to avoid detection and to facilitate a sexual assault. Threats of kidnapping, if they coerce the victim to submit to sexual penetration or contact, fall under the force or coercion provisions of the CSC Act:
“Force or coercion includes . . . [w]hen the actor coerces the victim to submit by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim, or any other person. . . . As used in this subdivision, ‘to retaliate’ includes threats of physical punishment, kidnapping, or extortion.” MCL 750.520b(1)(f)(iii); MCL 750.520e(1)(b)(iii).
“A person commits the crime of kidnapping if he or she knowingly restrains another person with the intent to do 1 or more of the following:
(a) Hold that person for ransom or reward.
(b) Use that person as a shield or hostage.
(c) Engage in criminal sexual penetration or criminal sexual contact prohibited under [MCL 750.520b–MCL 750.520m] with that person.
(d) Take that person outside of this state.
(e) Hold that person in involuntary servitude.
(f) Engage in child sexually abusive activity, as that term is defined in [MCL 750.145c], with that person, if that person is a minor.” MCL 750.349(1).
Generally, an indictment for kidnapping may be found and filed within 10 years after the offense is committed. MCL 767.24(6)(a). However, if the offense is reported to law enforcement within one year after the kidnapping, and the kidnapper is unknown, an indictment may be found and filed within 10 years after the individual is identified. See MCL 767.24(6)(b).
M Crim JI 19.1, Kidnapping.
A violation of MCL 750.349 is “a felony punishable by imprisonment for life or any term of years or a fine of not more than $50,000.00, or both.” MCL 750.349(3).
An offender convicted of kidnapping under MCL 750.349 may also be charged with, convicted of, or sentenced for any other offenses arising from the same transaction as the kidnapping violation. MCL 750.349(4).
A defendant convicted of kidnapping must pay a crime victim assessment of $130. See MCL 780.905(1)(a).
3.Minimum State Cost and Other Costs
If the court orders payment of any combination of a fine, costs, or applicable assessments, the court must impose the minimum state cost of not less than $68. See MCL 769.1j(1)(a); MCL 769.1k(1)(a).
The Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) designates kidnapping a minor under MCL 750.349 as a tier III offense, MCL 28.722(v)(ii), and requires registration if the defendant meets the domicile, residence, employment, or student status, MCL 28.723.
Kidnapping a minor “is one of only three offenses for which a conviction does not necessarily require commission of a sexual act that results in placement on the sex-offender registry.” People v Lymon (Lymon II), ___ Mich ___, ___(2024) (affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeals in People v Lymon (Lymon I), 342 Mich App 46 (2022), only as to non-sexual offenders who were placed on the sex-offender registry, and vacating the opinion as to conclusions that went beyond consideration of non-sexual offenders). “[T]he imposition of the 2021 SORA on non-sexual offenders . . . constitutes cruel or unusual punishment under the Michigan Constitution.” Lymon II, ___ Mich at ___. “[O]ffenders whose crimes lacked a sexual component are entitled to removal from the sex-offender registry.” Id. at ___.
For more information on the SORA’s registration requirements, see Chapter 9.
A defendant commits the crime of kidnapping under MCL 750.349(1)(c) if he “knowingly restrains another person with the intent” to commit a criminal sexual offense. People v Anderson, 331 Mich App 552, 562 (2020). “The restraint does not have to exist for any particular length of time and may be related or incidental to the commission of other criminal acts.” MCL 750.349(2). In Anderson, the defendant argued he could not be convicted of kidnapping because none of the sexual assaults occurred during the times he restrained the victim in the downstairs or upstairs closets. Anderson, 331 Mich App at 562. However, the closet confinements were not the restraint that warranted defendant’s kidnapping convictions. Id.
“[T]he record shows that defendant sat on the victim while scraping a knife over her back. He then used that knife to cut off the victim’s belt before he instructing her to remove her clothes and then committing the sexual assault. Although the closet confinements were of longer duration, restraint for the purposes of the kidnapping statute need not be for any specific period of time. By using his own body weight and the knife to restrict the victim, defendant ‘restrained’ the victim within the meaning of the kidnapping statute. That this restraint was accomplished with the intent to commit a sexual assault is evidenced by the fact that defendant removed the victim’s belt while she was constrained and committed the sexual act immediately after the confinement, while the victim was still under the strain of the prior restraint.” Anderson, 331 Mich App at 563.