Desiree Young, whose 7 year-old-son Kyron Horman was kidnapped more than two years ago, filed motions in Multnomah County Circuit Court today, arguing that the civil case should be heard, and that further delay would violate her constitutional rights.

Terri Horman, stepmother of Kyron Horman and the defendant in the civil case, has filed a motion to abate the civil proceedings for at least two years, asserting that her constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment are threatened.

And thus, the opening salvos in the Kyron Horman civil suit will address issues of rights guaranteed by the US and Oregon constitutions.

This civil suit is the first filed under Oregon’s landmark 2005 child abduction statute, Senate Bill 1041, known as “Aaron’s Law”, which provides child abduction victims with new tools when the criminal and family law systems are unable to move forward, and yet there is a missing child.

Under Aaron’s Law, Oregon became the first and only state in the nation where abducting a child (violating Oregon’s Custodial Interference in the First Degree statute) creates a civil cause of action.

Without a civil cause of action, the parent of an abducted child has only two courses of action, the criminal and family law systems, and very few options within those two systems.

The US Department of Justice reports that more than 200,000 cases of parental and family abduction take place in the US each year, with an increase in international abductions.

The Kyron Horman case exemplifies how parents can be put in the position of helpless spectators to processes that are failing to produce a missing child.

In addition to the creation of a civil cause of action, Aaron’s Law provides new tools to resolve and deter child abduction cases.

Aaron’s Law also recognizes that many child abductions involve multiple perpetrators, and is triggered by the Oregon Custodial Interference I statute that reaches to any person who takes, entices or keeps a child wrongfully, who provides planning, logistical or financial support to the abduction.

Opposing attorneys will argue whether the civil suit can go forward in Multnomah Circuit Court on August 15.