People v. Neidinger
California Supreme Court
146 P.3d 502 (2006)
- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
William (defendant) and Olga Neidinger had two young children together. After they separated, Olga and William shared legal custody of the children, but Olga had primary physical custody. William became concerned about the children’s well-being under Olga’s care. After his complaints to child protective services went unanswered, William removed the children from Olga’s care in California and brought them to his home in Nevada. William was eventually arrested and criminally charged for removing the children under a California statute that made it a crime to maliciously take a child away from the child’s legal custodian. Under an exception to the statute, however, it did not apply to anyone with a right to the child who had a good-faith belief that the child would suffer harm with the other person. William was convicted after the trial court determined that he was required to prove the elements of that exception by a preponderance of the evidence. William appealed, and the court of appeals reversed the conviction. The California Supreme Court granted the state attorney general’s petition for review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Chin, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 820,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
