Online pizza order saves woman and children from knife-wielding kidnapper A quick-thinking kidnappee managed to summon the cops using the comments section of an online order for pizza while being held hostage with her three children. On Monday Cheryl Treadway, 25, from Avon Park in Florida, spent the day arguing with her boyfriend Ethan Nickerson. He became violent, armed himself with a large knife …
Doesn't this seem a rather pointless law? Doesn't any kidnapping/hostage situation normally result in this. I can't really understand why there needs to be a specific law for this, as the situation can't exist in isolation (surely)? Isn't it covered by the other laws being broken at the same time?
It is so the plods can get a conviction on something. States like Florida have to pay a large portion of the defense costs if the defendant is acquitted. If he is convicted of something I don't believe they have to pay. As someone else pointed out, the wording is very vague and makes it easy for the Jury to convict on something.
> ... and obstructing justice by depriving communication to law enforcement.
They really have a specific law for that?
Yes, and it's quite an important one. It's frequently used by victims of domestic violence. Typical case: spousal argument gets heated, then violent; victim tries to call 911; attacker takes phone away. A "depriving communication" or "interfering with communication" (the precise statute differs from state to state) charge is generally much easier to prove than assault, and suffices for the victim to obtain a protection order, for police to remove the offender from the home, etc.
I live in a small city that sees little serious crime, but domestic disputes are still common - there are a few in the blotter every week - and an interference-with-communication charge is frequently key in separating the parties involved. There's often physical evidence (broken phone, aborted call to emergency services, etc), and they don't have to wait for bruises to start showing.
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