Kidnapping and False Imprisonment Charges in Minnesota

What Is Kidnapping Under Minnesota Law?

Kidnapping (Minn. Stat. § 609.25) is a felony committed when someone confines or removes another person without their consent (or, for a victim under 16, without a parent's or custodian's consent) for one of these purposes:

• to hold for ransom or reward;
• to use as a shield or hostage;
• to facilitate a felony or flight afterward;
• to commit great bodily harm or to terrorize; or
• to hold in involuntary servitude.

So kidnapping has two core elements: (1) confinement or removal without consent, and (2) one of these specific intents.

How Much Movement Is "Removal"?

Minnesota deliberately did not adopt a requirement that the victim be moved a "substantial distance." In State v. Morris, the Supreme Court upheld a kidnapping where the victim was moved only 100 to 150 feet, holding that "it is the fact, not the distance of forcible removal which constitutes kidnapping." At the same time, the court has cautioned prosecutors not to tack on kidnapping charges to inflate penalties when the crime is essentially something else.

What this means for you: Where confinement or movement is "completely incidental" to another crime (like a robbery or assault), Minnesota courts have held it may not be a separate kidnapping. Whether the restraint was truly incidental is often the key defense issue.

What Is False Imprisonment?

False imprisonment (Minn. Stat. § 609.255) is distinct from kidnapping and is generally a felony. It's committed when someone, knowingly lacking lawful authority, intentionally confines or restrains another person without consent (or confines someone's child under 18 without the parent's or custodian's consent).

The critical difference: false imprisonment does not require the specific unlawful purpose that kidnapping does. It's the act of unlawful confinement itself.

Because of that relationship, false imprisonment is a lesser-included offense of kidnapping — a person cannot properly be convicted of both for the same conduct.

Consent Obtained by Deceit Still Counts

Even if a person voluntarily goes somewhere, they can still be a victim if their consent was the product of deceit, intoxication, or similar circumstances — or if the confinement extended beyond what they actually agreed to. Apparent consent isn't always real consent.

What Are the Penalties?

• Kidnapping: a felony, with a more severe sentence if the victim is not released in a safe place or suffers great bodily harm. The lighter sentence for safe release is intended to encourage releasing victims unharmed.
• False imprisonment: generally a felony; certain caretaker-related conduct involving a child carries its own treatment.

By statute, a kidnapping conviction does not block prosecution for other crimes committed during the kidnapping. But a defendant cannot be convicted of two counts of kidnapping for the same act against the same victim.

Possible Defenses

• Consent — genuine, informed consent to the movement or confinement.
• Incidental confinement — restraint that was merely part of another offense, not a separate kidnapping.
• Lack of the required purpose for kidnapping.
• Lawful authority for the confinement.

Key Terms

• Kidnapping: Confining or removing someone without consent for a specific unlawful purpose.
• False imprisonment: Unlawfully confining or restraining someone without consent, with no special purpose required.
• Incidental confinement: Restraint that is merely part of another crime and may not be a separate kidnapping.
• Safe release: Releasing a victim unharmed, which reduces the kidnapping sentence.