State v. Vakilzaden

Orang Fabriz and Lila Mirjavadi, Iranian citizens, had one child, Saba Fabriz. Fabriz and Mirjavadi separated but remained married, with Mirjavadi informally having primary residential custody of Saba. When Mirjavadi filed a divorce petition, Fabriz sought visitation rights. The trial court entered an order giving Fabriz three hours per week of supervised visitation, citing his history of domestic violence and the risk he would flee with Saba. Subsequently, Orang’s uncle, Anthony Vakilzaden (defendant), helped Fabriz purchase one-way tickets to Istanbul for himself and Saba. Vakilzaden knew Fabriz was only entitled to weekly supervised visits with Saba. On the day of the flight, Vakilzaden and Fabriz drove together to the mall for Fabriz’s weekly supervised visitation. While there, Fabriz evaded the supervisor and fled with Saba. Vakilzaden interfered with the police investigation to ensure Fabriz was not detained. Vakilzaden was criminally charged with conspiracy to commit custodial interference for helping Fabriz interfere with Mirjavadi’s custodial rights. Vakilzaden moved to dismiss, arguing Fabriz was a joint custodian and therefore could not be charged with custodial interference. The trial court granted the dismissal, reasoning there was no custodial interference because Mirjavadi was not the sole custodian. The state (plaintiff) appealed, arguing joint custodians should not be immune from criminal prosecution for custodial interference.