State v. Kinchen

Parents can be guilty of unlawful imprisonment of their own children in circumstances where the restrictions on the children’s movements, viewed objectively, are excessive, immoderate, or unreasonable. Such a construction of the relevant statutes saves them from a constitutional challenge as applied to the circumstance of questionable parental discipline. Nonetheless, while Kinchen’s challenge on this basis fails, we reverse his conviction because the record fails to demonstrate a unanimous verdict by the jury as to the circumstances for which Hinchen was criminally liable in the care of his…