The defendant and her husband have two sons, ages five and t…
The defendant and her husband have two sons, ages five and three. Without notifying her husband, she left the family home with both children while no court proceedings were pending concerning either their marriage or custody of their children. Two weeks later, and without the wife’s knowledge, the husband obtained a court order granting him custody of the two children. An arrest warrant was eventually issued for the wife. She was arrested in another state and brought back to her home state, where she now faces prosecution under a statute that provides, “Whoever, being a relative of a child … without lawful authority, holds or intends to hold such a child permanently or for a protracted period, or takes or entices a child from his lawful custodian … shall be guilty of a felony.” The wife’s attorney stipulates that the facts are correct as stated but contends the wife cannot be convicted of parental kidnapping under the quoted statute. What result do you think should occur?