Aggravated Kidnapping Law and Legal Definition
Aggravated kidnapping means kidnapping accompanied by some aggravating factor. For example, where a person is kidnapped for ransom or where an injury is caused to the victim kidnapped, it is called aggravated kidnapping. Therefore, aggravated kidnapping requires the additional element beyond kidnapping that bodily harm be inflicted upon the victim kidnapped. In other words aggravated kidnapping can be defined as the commission of kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon. Because aggravated kidnapping is a result-oriented offense, the allowable unit of prosecution for the offense of aggravated kidnapping relates to the abduction of a victim. In other words, the State is allowed to prosecute a person for each victim kidnapped, not for the number of aggravating factors that may be present.
The elements of aggravated kidnapping are: (1) the forcible seizing and; (2) the carrying of any person from one place to another (the asportation element); (3) with the intent to force the victim, or some other person, to give up anything of apparent present or prospective value (the extortion element); and (4) in order to secure the release of that person. [State v. Arnold, 548 So. 2d 920 (La. 1989)]
