On behalf of Stange Law Firm, PC posted in Child Custody on Thursday, October 16, 2014.
One year ago, a mother hired two young men to kidnap her one-year-old daughter from the child’s father, who had legal custody of the girl. Recently, the woman entered a guilty plea to three felony charges in Jasper County Circuit Court. As part of the plea deal, additional charges against the woman were dropped.
The mother hatched the kidnapping plot two months after the court awarded emergency temporary custody of the child to the father. She pledged to pay the young men, whom she encountered at a party, by giving them a car she had after they returned her daughter to her.
A week later, the mother traveled with the men to the father’s home. The prospective kidnappers entered the home with guns drawn while the mother waited in the getaway car. The father, who had been alerted through his social network that the mother might attempt to kill him to get custody of her daughter back, acted quickly. He shut the door of the bedroom where he and the child were at the time. The kidnappers fired shots into the bedroom but, fortunately, both father and child escaped injury.
The two would-be kidnappers have entered not guilty pleas to child kidnapping and other felony charges, the charges against the mother that were dropped. Part of her plea agreement with the court included a charge of misdemeanor interference with child custody, which she had been charged with at the time of the emergency order giving the father custody.
Child custody disputes do not have to turn into all-out war between the parents. Experienced legal counsel can help to keep matters from escalating into criminal and even violent behavior between Missouri residents, and help them achieve an agreement that respects the needs of all parties as well as the best interest of the child.
Source: The Joplin Globe, “Mother pleads guilty in foiled child kidnapping,” by Jeff Lehr, Oct. 7, 2014
