False Imprisonment Of A Hostage To Avoid Arrest

California Penal Code section 210.5 is defined as a defendant using the force of threat or force against a victim to make the victim stay or go somewhere against the victim’s will so that the defendant can avoid arrest.

Below our criminal defense attorneys explain this law.

Overview of Penal Code 210.5 PC

To be convicted of the offense, the defendant must have faced imminent threat of arrest and must have intended to protect himself/herself against the threat of imminent arrest by restraining the other person.¹

A man robbed a bank, but as he was getting away, he realized he was surrounded by the police.

He then used a hostage to negotiate for a way for him to flee the crime scene.

He threatened to shoot the victim if he does not get his way.

This man can be convicted of

• Penal Code 211 PC – California’s robbery law,
• Penal Code 245(a)(1) pc – California’s assault with a deadly weapon law.
• Penal Code 210.5 pc – California false imprisonment of the hostage to avoid arrest law.

If the hostage gets killed, he can be charged with felony murder.

How Does The Prosecutor Prove False Imprisonment of a Hostage to Avoid Arrest?

To prove that the defendant is guilty of false imprisonment to avoid arrests under Pen. Code §210.5, the prosecution must prove the following facts or elements:²

• The defendant faced a threat or risk of imminent arrest³;
• The defendant restrained, confined, or detained another person by force or by a threat to use force;
• The defendant intended to protect himself/herself against the threat of imminent arrest by restraining the other person⁴;
• The defendant made the other person stay or go somewhere against that person’s will⁵;

AND

• The defendant either substantially increased the risk of physical or psychological harm to the victim or intended to use the victim as a shield⁶.

Example

A store clerk took all the money from the cash register and held her manager at gun point, telling him that she will blow out his brains if he calls the cops.  She tied up his legs and hands and locked him inside a walk-in refrigerator.

The store clerk can be convicted of false imprisonment of a hostage to avoid arrest and her punishment may be enhanced by up to 6 years if the manager sustains great bodily injury.

Legal Defenses

There are various defenses that can be asserted on your behalf to fight a charge of false imprisonment of a hostage to void arrest.

Here are the most common ones:

Consent:

If the victim consents to stay or go somewhere to help the defendant avoid arrest, the defendant has a defense against this charge, because the offense requires forcing the victim to stay or go somewhere against the victim’s will.

No Imminent Threat of Arrest:

If there was no imminent threat of arrest, one should not be charged with this offense because the imminent threat of arrest is one of the elements required for this offense.

No Increase Risk of Harm to the Victim:

If the act of imprisoning the victim does not substantially increase the risk of harm to the victim, the defendant has a defense to this charge.

Duress

If the only reason you falsely imprisoned another person is that you yourself faced the threat of serious harm or death, you are not guilty of this crime.

Self-Defense/Defense of Others:

If you had a reasonable belief, that you were in imminent danger of being killed, or injured, and you reasonably believed that you needed to use force or threat of force against someone to make them stay or go somewhere to prevent yourself from being harmed, and you used no more force than was necessary to prevent harm to yourself or another, than you have a viable defense for this offense.

What Are The Penalties, Punishment And Sentencing Guidelines For False Imprisonment of a Hostage to Avoid Arrest?

False imprisonment of a hostage to avoid arrest is a felony for which a defendant can face imprisonment for three, five or eight years.⁷

Are There Potential Penalty Enhancements To This Crime?

• Great Bodily Injury – This crime adds an additional and consecutive thresix-year year state prison sentence to your sentence for the false imprisonment charge if you cause the victim to suffer great bodily injury.
• Penal Code 242 pc – Battery: Which is violated if you used force upon another.
• Penal Code 209 pc – Kidnapping: Which you violate by moving a person a significant distance against theri will.

1. California Penal Code Section 210.5 – Every person who commits the offense of false imprisonment, as defined in Section 236, against a person for purposes of protection from arrest, which substantially increases the risk of harm to the victim, or for purposes of using the person as a shield is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for three, five, or eight years. [↩]
2. Penal Code Sections 210.5, 236. [↩]
3. Imminent Arrest. People v. Gomez (1992) 2 Cal.App.4th 819, 825 [3 Cal.Rptr.2d 418] [dicta]. [↩]
4. “False imprisonment” is defined as the intentional and unlawful confinement of a person against that person’s will.  False Imprisonment. Pen. Code, §§ 236, 237.  Unlike simple “false imprisonment,” false imprisonment of a hostage is a “specific intent” crime, meaning the defendant intends to do some further act or achieve some additional consequence.  In this context, the defendant intends to falsely imprison for purposes of protecting himself from arrest.  See Pen. Code, § 210.5 [falsely imprison “for purposes of protection from arrest”]; see also People v. McDaniel (1979) 24 Cal.3d 661, 669 [156 Cal.Rptr. 865, 597 P.2d 124]. [↩]
5. An act is done against a person’s will if that person does not consent to the act.  In order to consent, a person must act freely and voluntarily and know the nature of the act. [↩]
6. Section 210.5 does not expressly require a threat of arrest when a perpetrator commits false imprisonment “for purposes of using the person as a shield.” Until the appellate courts provide more guidance, this instruction assumes that a threat of imminent arrest is required. (See People v. Gomez (1992) 2 Cal.App.4th 819, 825 [3 Cal.Rptr.2d 418] [dicta]. [↩]
7. California Penal Code Section 210.5. [↩]