Baby kidnap couple face jail

A couple who kidnapped a baby and for 20 years raised him as their own, face up to 25 years in prison after refusing to hand him back.

The couple, charged under their real names of Barry and Judith Smiley, had originally hoped to legally adopt the child, Matthew, but in 1980 a judge dismissed an agreement they made with his grandparents and biological mother, Debbie Gardner, 19, who claimed she had been pressured by her parents to give up her son.

Instead of handing Matthew back, the Smileys fled New York and started a new life in New Mexico, 2,000 miles away. They changed their names to Ben and Mary Propp and on his 21st birthday, handed Matthew his birth certificate and told him who he was.

Matthew then contacted his real parents, but broke the Smileys' cover and they were arrested. Now he is concerned that they will go to prison. "My parents are my life," he said.

The trial, at the State Supreme Court, is expected to last two months.