Also known as: man-stealing · kidnapping · abduction
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A historical offense consisting of the forcible abduction and transportation of a person from one country to another.
Mason McCarthy and an accomplice abduct Maurice Marshall from a harbor warehouse and lock him in a watertight hold while they stage a theft. When flooding occurs during the staged emergency, Marshall drowns. The manstealing supplies the extreme indifference required for murder.
Melanie Morris directs associates to sedate Madison Meyers in her hotel and drive her across the state line. The associates confine Meyers for questioning at a remote facility. Because the movement stays within one country, the conduct fails to meet the elements of manstealing.
Musa Mensah is seized at gunpoint and forced into a vehicle for transport across the border. Mensah draws a firearm and shoots the abductor, believing deadly force is necessary to avoid the manstealing. The justification defense is available because the threat involves manstealing.
Mohan Malhotra forces Mercury Industries' executive into a van and drives her a substantial distance to an isolated cabin. He confines her there for three days to extract trade secrets. The removal and confinement for a prohibited purpose constitute manstealing under the statute.
Momentum Capital's security chief compels an employee to submit to intercourse by threatening to abduct and transport her across the border. The threat of manstealing supplies the force element required for the rape charge.
Meridian Motors' employee is seized and bound for transport out of the country. The employee breaks free, grabs a weapon, and shoots the abductor at close range. The response is evaluated under self-defense standards because the initial conduct was manstealing.
On December 22, 1984, Troy Canty, Darryl Cabey, James Ramseur, and Barry Allen boarded an IRT express subway train in The Bronx. The four youths rode together in the rear portion of the seventh car. Two of them, Ramseur and Cabey, carried screwdrivers inside their coats to break into video machine coin boxes. Bernhard Goetz boarded the same train at 14th Street in Manhattan and sat in the rear section of that car while carrying an unlicensed .38 caliber pistol loaded with five rounds. Canty approached Goetz and said “give me five dollars.” Goetz stood up, pulled out his handgun, and fired four shots in rapid succession. The first shot hit Canty in the chest. The second struck Allen in the back. The third went through Ramseur’s arm and into his left side. The fourth was fired at Cabey but missed. Goetz then fired a fifth shot at Cabey, who was sitting on a bench, and the bullet severed Cabey’s spinal cord. Goetz told the conductor that the four youths had tried to rob him. Goetz then fled between cars onto the tracks. On December 31, 1984, Goetz surrendered to police in Concord, New Hampshire. After receiving Miranda warnings, he gave two tape-recorded statements in which he admitted carrying the handgun illegally in New York City for three years. Goetz described the incident in detail, stating that he had established a pattern of fire from left to right with the intention to murder the four youths and make them suffer as much as possible. Goetz also stated that if he had had more bullets he would have shot them again and again. A first Grand Jury in January 1985 indicted Goetz only on three weapons-possession counts and dismissed all charges arising from the shootings. After the People obtained an order authorizing resubmission, a second Grand Jury heard testimony from Canty and Ramseur plus four passengers and received the tapes of Goetz’s statements. On March 27, 1985, the second Grand Jury returned a ten-count indictment charging four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. On October 14, 1985, Goetz moved to dismiss the second indictment. While the motion was pending, a New York Daily News column reported an interview in which Cabey stated that the other three youths had approached Goetz intending to rob him. A police officer informed the prosecutor that Canty had told him at the scene “we were going to rob [Goetz].” On January 21, 1986, Criminal Term dismissed all counts of the second indictment except reckless endangerment. The Appellate Division affirmed the dismissal.
View caseCommon law manstealing requires forcible abduction followed by transportation from one country into another. False imprisonment requires only unlawful confinement without valid consent. The international transportation element is essential to manstealing but unnecessary for false imprisonment.
Yes. The Model Penal Code requires that the unlawful removal or confinement be done with one of several listed purposes, such as holding for ransom or facilitating a felony. Without such a purpose the conduct may constitute false imprisonment but not kidnapping.
Manstealing creates a presumption of recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to human life. A death occurring during the commission of manstealing is therefore murder even if the actor did not intend to kill.
Yes. The Model Penal Code expressly includes threat of kidnapping among the means by which a male may compel submission by force for purposes of rape.
…and the officers testified to the prior oral confession made by Miranda during the interrogation. Miranda was found guilty of kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years' imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Arizona held that Miranda's constitutional…