Extortion Definition and Meaning

Описание: The criminal charge of extortion in Louisiana is a felony offense. It is a very serious charge that prosecutors and judges provide harsh sentences for.

Extortion is the communication of threats to another with the intention thereby to obtain anything of value or an advantage, or immunity of any description. Basically, a person can get charged with extortion if they try to threaten or intimidate another person to gain some sort of advantage—whether it is money or to try to keep a victim or witness in a case from pursuing a claim against the defendant or testifying against the defendant at trial.

The Louisiana statute for extortion is found in Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:66. It states that any one of the following kinds of threats shall be sufficient to constitute extortion:

A threat to do any unlawful injury to the person or property of the individual threatened or of any member of his family or of any other person held dear to him.
This is pretty straightforward. If it can be proven that the defendant threatened the victim or his family with physical harm and the threat was done by the defendant to gain something, that could be extortion. If it was just a threat to injure without the requirement that the victim pay money or provide a benefit to the defendant, then the charge would likely be an assault instead of extortion.

A threat to accuse the individual threatened or any member of his family or any other person held dear to him of any crime.
It is extortion if the defendant tells the victim that they will call the police and accuse them of breaking the law if the victim doesn’t pay him money or do something for him. It is illegal to get paid off to not turn somebody in.

A threat to expose or impute any deformity or disgrace of the individual threatened or to any member of his family or to any other person held dear to him.
This scenario usually happens in the social media setting where the defendant will offer not to post the video or photo if the victim pays them off. That is extortion.

A threat to expose any secret affecting the individual threatened or any member of his family or any other person held dear to him.
Extortion applies to secrets as well. The defendant cannot threaten to expose a secret if the victim doesn’t pay the defendant or provide a benefit to the defendant.

A threat to cause harm as retribution for participation in any legislative hearing or proceeding, administrative hearing, or any other legal action.
This usually applies in instances where a defendant may threaten someone from testifying at a legal hearing that could end up affecting the defendant’s business or rights. This is seen in the political or business arena. It is illegal for people to threaten lawmakers or others who would testify at a legal proceeding which could result in a ruling or law being created or amended.

A threat to do any other harm.
This provision in the Louisiana extortion statute encompasses any other type of harm not contemplated by the legislators when drafting this law.

The law states that whoever is convicted of extortion shall be imprisoned at hard labor for one to fifteen years. It is a probatable offense if the judge is willing to order probation; otherwise, the judge will order a prison sentence. If probation is ordered, the defendant may have to complete community service, rehabilitative counseling classes, pay probation fees, undergo drug testing, and pay fines and court costs.

If you or somebody you know has been arrested for extortion in Louisiana, give us a call. We’ll be happy to help.

Learn more: https://attorneycarl.com/extortion-ex...

Barkemeyer Law Firm
We defend criminal charges in all areas of Louisiana.
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This information and video is not intended to be formal legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.