Court Opinion

ID: 9667541
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:48:36.399819+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:38.759589
License: Public Domain

Kavanagh, J.
(concurring in the result). I agree that the defendants’ convictions of kidnapping should be set aside and the decision of the Court of Appeals affirmed but disagree with the reason for so doing stated in the opinion of the majority.
The element of asportation was read into our statute in People v Adams, 389 Mich 222; 205 NW2d 415 (1973), for the stated purpose of saving the statute from a perceived overbreadth. I am now of the opinion that it was not only unnecessary but erroneous to do so, for the statute is not overbroad.
Conviction of kidnapping under this statute properly read requires proof of:
1) Forcibly carrying or sending a person out of the state, or
2) Confining such person within the state for the ultimate purpose of:
*303a) Extorting money or otfyer valuable thing thereby, or
b) Causing such person to be secretly confined or imprisoned within this state against his will, or
c) Causing such person to be held to service against his will.
I am now persuaded that unless the charged kidnapping involves carrying or sending a person across the state line no element of asportation is implicated in our statute. The overbreadth we feared in Adams is avoided by insisting on proof of the intent specified in the statute as the ultimate purpose of the criminal act. So interpreted the statute would not elevate a misdemeanor to a felony as we feared in Adams. See 389 Mich 222, 232-233.
Our concentration on asportation in Adams now strikes me as misplaced. The holding of the hostages there for the purpose of extorting a hearing on grievances should have determined whether this statute was violated. I now think it was and that we wrongly decided Adams.
In the instant cases while the defendants in fact confined the complainants, the ultimate purpose of such confinement was shown to be criminal sexual conduct. Confinement for that purpose is not covered by our kidnapping statute.