NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Court Rules Against Kidnaper Immunity

Parents who kidnap their children cannot be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for returning the youngsters, New York’s highest court ruled. The Court of Appeals in Albany ruled unanimously that immunity in such a case is a “perversion” and not enforceable. The decision was issued in a case involving a divorced Manhattan lawyer, Calvin Schrotenboer, who took his three young children for a visit in the summer of 1988 and did not return them to their mother. An assistant district attorney agreed not to prosecute Schrotenboer if he returned the children, but he was later arrested. Schrotenboer sued, charging that the district attorney’s office breached an agreement.