In a decision rendered on May 31, 2012, the Court of Appeals affirmed the February 7, 2011 decision/order of the Appellate Division, Third Department, which affirmed the April 2009 conviction of Leo Leonard, upon a jury verdict convicting him of the crime of Kidnapping in the Second Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Burglary in the Second Degree. In the decision, New York State’s highest court addressed the question of whether it is possible for a parent who has custodial rights to a child to be guilty of kidnapping that child, an issue of first impression in this state.
In the case at bar, the defendant and the victim are an estranged couple who are the parents of a young child. In February, 2008, when their child was seven weeks of age, the defendant appeared uninvited at the victim’s residence. Following a lengthly domestic violence altercation during which the defendant abused the mother of his child, threatened her with a knife and actually cut her, he eventually calmed down and allowed the victim to leave, while he remained with the baby. After the mother fled, the police were called and upon their arrival, the defendant took out a 13” kitchen knife and held it near the baby’s throat. The defendant then retreated with the child back into the residence and held the police at bay while holding the knife near the child’s chest and throat and threatening to kill her if they came any closer. For the next hour police hostage negotiators and the Ulster County SWAT Team were at a stand off. The defendant was finally persuaded to give the baby, unharmed, to the police.
Following his conviction, the defendant was sentenced by Supreme Court Judge Teresi to an aggregate determinate sentence of twenty-five years on his Kidnapping Second conviction to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
The defendant’s primary argument on appeal was that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his Kidnapping in the Second Degree conviction.
In its 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals majority concluded that while kidnapping by a custodial parent of his or her own child is not a legal impossibility, it is possible only in cases like this one “where a defendant’s conduct is so obviously and unjustifiably dangerous or harmful to the child so as to be inconsistent with the idea of lawful custody”. In affirming the conviction, the Court of Appeals cautioned that while its holding should not be too readily extended, “when a man holds a knife to his child and threatens to murder her if anyone tried to take her from him, a line has been crossed”.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Stuart M. Cohen, of Rensselaer, New York, Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office with the assistance of Shirley Huang, Esq.
In a decision rendered on May 31, 2012, the Court of Appeals affirmed the February 7, 2011 decision/order of the Appellate Division, Third Department, which affirmed the April 2009 conviction of Leo Leonard, upon a jury verdict convicting him of the crime of Kidnapping in the Second Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Burglary in the Second Degree. In the decision, New York State’s highest court addressed the question of whether it is possible for a parent who has custodial rights to a child to be guilty of kidnapping that child, an issue of first impression in this state.
In the case at bar, the defendant and the victim are an estranged couple who are the parents of a young child. In February, 2008, when their child was seven weeks of age, the defendant appeared uninvited at the victim’s residence. Following a lengthly domestic violence altercation during which the defendant abused the mother of his child, threatened her with a knife and actually cut her, he eventually calmed down and allowed the victim to leave, while he remained with the baby. After the mother fled, the police were called and upon their arrival, the defendant took out a 13” kitchen knife and held it near the baby’s throat. The defendant then retreated with the child back into the residence and held the police at bay while holding the knife near the child’s chest and throat and threatening to kill her if they came any closer. For the next hour police hostage negotiators and the Ulster County SWAT Team were at a stand off. The defendant was finally persuaded to give the baby, unharmed, to the police.
Following his conviction, the defendant was sentenced by Supreme Court Judge Teresi to an aggregate determinate sentence of twenty-five years on his Kidnapping Second conviction to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
The defendant’s primary argument on appeal was that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his Kidnapping in the Second Degree conviction.
In its 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals majority concluded that while kidnapping by a custodial parent of his or her own child is not a legal impossibility, it is possible only in cases like this one “where a defendant’s conduct is so obviously and unjustifiably dangerous or harmful to the child so as to be inconsistent with the idea of lawful custody”. In affirming the conviction, the Court of Appeals cautioned that while its holding should not be too readily extended, “when a man holds a knife to his child and threatens to murder her if anyone tried to take her from him, a line has been crossed”.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Stuart M. Cohen, of Rensselaer, New York, Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office with the assistance of Shirley Huang, Esq.
