Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
When someone gets invited into a home, can he be charged with burglary if he commits a crime in the house? To commit a residential burglary you have to enter a home with the intent to commit theft inside or a felony of some kind. In the recent case of People v Garcia, decided on November 14, 2017, the court confirms that you can be convicted of a burglary even if you were invited into the house.
Mr. Garcia was invited to spend the night in his sister-in-law’s home. While inside the home he went into the separate room of his 12 year old niece and committed sex crimes against her. Mr. Garcia tried to defend himself against a burglary charge by saying “I was invited into the house so I couldn’t have committed a burglary!” Not so, said the Court of Appeal. If, as Mr. Garcia did, you enter into other rooms in the house where you don’t have consent to be, a burglary occurs as to each room you entered without consent. In Mr. Garcia’s case he had permission to enter the house but not the young niece’s bedroom where the sex crimes occurred. Therefore he fulfilled the requirements of entering a room (the niece’s room) with the intent to commit a felony (sexual molestation). The intricacies of the law are always changing and you need a lawyer who is constantly up to date. Your freedom can depend on it.