Alleged kidnapper John D. Moro’s attorney argued Tuesday to dismiss all charges against Moro stating that a biological parent should not be charged with kidnapping.

Moro, 35, of Centrailia is accused of abducting his daughter Demetria at gunpoint from Giant City School on Aug. 29.

Moro plead not guilty to aggravated kidnapping, one count of unlawful use of weapons and two counts of armed violence at his preliminary hearing Tuesday, after Judge Thomas Jones found probable cause to hold Moro for trial.

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Jackson County Public Defender Patricia Gross cited a 1990 ruling in a 1st District Appellate Court case in which a Chicago man had his aggravated kidnapping conviction reversed. Gross said the same law should apply to Moro.

The Chicago man was convicted of abducting his 11-year-old daughter, but his conviction was reversed because he was the girl’s biological father.

At the time of the kidnapping, Moro did not have custody of his daughter and was court-ordered to have visits with his daughter supervised by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

States attorney Mike Wepsiec said he thought the motion to dismiss was an ambush tactic by the defense.

Without advance notice you have to be surprised, Wepsiec said. We give advance notice (to the defense), and I think the prosecution should get the same treatment.

Wepsiec said he received a copy of the appellate ruling only a few minutes before Gross cited the case.

Gross said she thought a motion to dismiss the charges would have been premature prior to the preliminary hearing.

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Jones said Gross would have to file the motion to dismiss in writing, and he said that the defense’s case appeared to be relevant.

Gross declined to comment after the hearing, but Wepsiec said he is comfortable with the case that has been put together by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

Ultimately it takes a person in a black robe to decide, Wepsiec said.

Moro has also been charged by the U.S. District Court in Benton with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person . If Moro makes bail at the Jackson County Jail, he will again be taken into custody on the federal charges.

Moro has been in the Jackson County Jail since his return to Southern Illinois. Moro led authorities on a nation-wide manhunt for two weeks and was apprehended by FBI agents and local police in Ellensburg, Wash on Sept. 12.