Parental Kidnapping: The Feagen Case

Written by Chris Uhl
The information contained herein is only to inform the public and does not create an attorney client relationship with the reader. You should always consult an attorney when seeking legal advice.

Kidnapping by a stranger is a felony punishable by twenty years or more in the Massachusetts state prison system. On the other hand, parental kidnapping is a misdemeanor and only punishable by six months, in the House of Correction. The Feagen case is in the media and catching everyone’s attention as an unusual case, because the father stole the daughter’s from the mother. Although this seems rather rare and unusual, I would suggest that it happens more often than most would like to believe.

How did the case end this way? How is it that the daughters are taking the father’s side? It seems difficult to understand. Is Mr. Feagen charged with kidnapping or parental kidnapping? I would suggest there is no way to charge him with the felony kidnapping because he is a parent. In today’s Probate arrangements, of divorced families with children, things are even more complicated than they were twenty years ago. Years ago, custody was usually with the mother, as it is most often today. A parent had physical custody, which also meant that she had complete custody of the child.

Custody can be joint, which means that each parent has a right to the child, with physical custody in one parent. This makes things even more complicated when you talk about kidnapping.

In order to be convicted of kidnapping, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, the taking and carrying away of another against their will. The children are minors, so was it against their will? The kidnapper is a parent. Does that mean in fact, the crime is punishable by a maximum of six months in jail?

If the defendant has no prior record whatsoever, it is unusual for a Commonwealth judge to place someone in jail, unless it is a very serious or heinous crime. Here Mr. Feagen is most likely charged with the misdemeanor, since he is a parent. It would be very difficult, even though the facts do not seem to be in Mr. Feagen’s favor, as reported in the media, for him to be jailed.

Were the children taken for their own protection? Were the children taken because the father did not agree with the courts? Were the children taken just because the father was selfish and did not want to give up the companionship? These are all questions that only one individual can answer the person that did the taking. I can assure you we will never know the answers to those questions.

If the crime is only punishable by six months in the House of Correction, why was an individual placed on $250,000.00 bail or $2.5 million surety. The bail statute is only to assure an individual’s repeat appearance in court. It has nothing to do with the danger of that person. There is a new statute the legislature has passed to deal with dangerousness. There was no dangerousness hearing in this case and therefore, would the defendant without bail or surety make a return appearance to court. I would say the answer is yes. So why was the bail so high? Were the courts pandering to the media?

The real question in all of this hoopla is were the children damaged in some way by the actions of their father? Did the father take the children out of spite for the mother? Did the mother do everything possible to try and find her children? That seems to be the question. What seems to come from this case is that the mother and father were very similar and seemed to have deserved one another. The most unusual fact is that the daughters turned out to be two fine young ladies. Just remember, everything that seems to be one thing always turns out to be another.

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