Father was not the custodial parent. He had visitation. He took the child from the mother. The court found him guilty of child abduction.
Father appealed. He argued that there was not enough evidence that he took the child without the mother’s consent. The appellate court agreed that there was not enough evidence to convict the father.
Father had picked his son up from mother at 3:30 a.m. Father was going to take the son to breakfast. The child’s mother had testified that she had given father permission to take the child to breakfast. But, she testified that she had just simply not expected him that early.
Also, she said that she did not say anything to father when he was leaving with the child. She did not make any attempt to contact father after he left with the child.
Instead, she called the police. The mother said that she was objecting to her child’s being taken from her. But, is it believable that she would not say anything to father under these circumstances? She had not said anything to father about his taking the child at the time.
Thus, the evidence showed that the mother consented to the child being taken by father. The appellate court said that father was not guilty of child abduction by a noncustodial parent.
Was there ever a problem?
People v. Cole, 2017 IL App (2d) 160334, June 29, 2017
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