Court Opinion

ID: 9536316
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:57:27.559465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:32:33.733657
License: Public Domain

McCALEB, Justice
(dissenting).
I think the indictment in this case is fatally defective and, therefore, the motion in arrest of judgment should have been sustained.
*244The crime of simple kidnapping, as defined by R.S. 14:45, may be committed in three different ways:1
“(1) The intentional and forcible seizing and carrying of any person from one place to another without his consent; or
“ (2) The intentional taking, enticing or decoying away, for an unlawful purpose, of any child not his own and under the age of fourteen years, without the consent of its parent or the person charged with its custody; or
“(3) The intentional taking, enticing or decoying away, without the consent of the proper authority, of any person who has been lawfully committed to an orphan, insane, feeble-minded or other similar institution.” (Italics mine.)
These provisions are specific and clear. They spell out three separate instances under which the crime of simple kidnapping is committed. Obviously, subsection (1) refers only to cases involving the kidnapping of a person of the age of fourteen years or over and the elements of this type of kidnapping are the intentional and forcible seizing and carrying away of any such person from one place to another “without his consent”.
The second subsection deals purely with the kidnapping of a child under fourteen years of age for an unlawful purpose. The consent of the child in such instances is not material for, as the subsection itself provides, the crime is committed when the taking or enticing away of the child is “without the consent of its parent or the person charged with its custody;”.
And, in like manner, the third subsection deals specifically with the intentional taking of persons committed to orphan asylums or institutions for the insane or feeble-minded “without the consent of the proper authority, * * *”.
In view of the language of the statute, I cannot perceive how the indictment in the present case can, as the majority opinion holds, be construed to charge a violation under Subsection 1 of R.S. 14:45 since the indictment specifically alleges in the language of Subsection 2 of the statute, that the defendant intentionally committed simple kidnapping by seizing a six-year old child not his own, for an unlawful purpose, and forcibly carried and took her away *246from her home without the consent of her parents.
Although the majority opinion seems to indicate otherwise, it is perfectly evident to me that the simple kidnapping of a child under fourteen years of age is not a violation of Subsection 1 of the statute but only of Subsection 2, because the statute is plain that kidnappings under Subsection 1 are confined to persons fourteen years or over, who are those the lawmaker evidently considers as being capable of withholding consent to their seizure and being carried away by another.
By placing the charge squarely under Subsection 2 of the statute, where it should be, it is manifest that the indictment does not inform the accused of the nature and cause of the accusation and, therefore, is violative of Section 9 of Article 1 of our Constitution. For it will not do to conclude, as the majority opinion holds, that the charge couched in the language of the statute is sufficient in this case. This is because Subsection 2 of R.S. 14:45 does not define all elements of the offense of simple kidnapping with the precision and certainty necessary to comply with the constitutional command that the accused in all criminal cases shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.
One of the indispensable elements of the offense of simple kidnapping of a child less than fourteen years of age is that the intentional taking, enticing, or decoying away be “for an unlawful purpose”. Accordingly, an indictment, which, by Article 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (R.S. 15 :227) “ * * * must state every fact and circumstance necessary to constitute the offense * * * ”, does not satisfy constitutional or statutory requirements by simply charging in the language of the statute that the accused carried away the child for an unlawful purpose, as the phrase “for an unlawful purpose” is a general and indefinite term which does not inform the accused of the specific facts on which the charge is based. See State v. Hebert, 205 La. 110, 17 So.2d 3; State v. Varnado, (on rehearing) 208 La. 319, 368, 23 So.2d 106; State v. Truby, 211 La. 178, 29 So.2d 758 and State v. Blanchard, 226 La. 1082, 78 So.2d 181. Cf. State v. Scheuring, 226 La. 660, 76 So.2d 921; State v. Kershaw, 234 La. 579, 100 So.2d 873 and State v. Odom, 247 La. 62, 169 So.2d 909.
I respectfully dissent.
Rehearing denied.
FOURNET, C. J., and McCALEB, J., are of the opinion that a rehearing should be granted.

. By Act 344 of 1962, R.S. 14:45 was amended to include a fourth way to commit simple kidnapping, i. e., “The intentional taking * * * and removing from the state, by any parent of his or her child, from the custody of any person to whom custody has been awarded by any court of competent jurisdiction in any state, without the consent of the legal custodian, with intent to defeat the jurisdiction of the said court over the custody of the child.”