Is a person who enters a house with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony guilty of first degree burglary?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. J.A. (In re J.A.), G046947 (Cal. App. 2013):

A person who enters an inhabited house "with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony" is guilty of first degree burglary. (Pen. Code, 459, 460, subd. (a).) The purpose of the burglary statute is to protect the burglarized structure's occupants. "'"'Burglary laws are based primarily upon a recognition of the dangers to personal safety created by the usual burglary situation the danger that the intruder will harm the occupants in attempting to perpetrate the intended crime or to escape and the danger that the occupants will in anger or panic react violently to the invasion, thereby inviting more violence. The laws are primarily designed, then, not to deter the trespass and the intended crime, which are prohibited by other laws, so much as to forestall the germination of a situation dangerous to personal safety.' Section 459, in short, is aimed at the danger caused by the unauthorized entry itself."'" (Magness v. Superior Court (2012) 54 Cal.4th 270, 275.)

"Although the prosecution must demonstrate that one accused of burglary entered the premises with intent to commit theft or any felony, intent is rarely susceptible of direct proof and may be inferred from the circumstances disclosed by the evidence. [Citations.] Where the facts and circumstances of a particular case and the conduct of the defendant reasonably indicate his purpose in entering the premises is to commit larceny or any felony, the conviction may not be disturbed on appeal." (People v. Nunley (1985) 168 Cal.App.3d 225, 232.)

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The law punishes persons who attempt to commit a crime, but fail. (Pen. Code, 664.) "An attempt to commit a crime consists of two elements: a specific intent to commit the crime, and a direct but ineffectual act done toward its commission." (Pen. Code, 21a.) "'Commission of an element of the underlying crime other than formation of intent to do it is not necessary. [Citation.] Although mere preparation such as planning or mere intention to commit a crime is insufficient to constitute an attempt, acts which indicate a certain, unambiguous intent to commit that specific crime, and, in themselves, are an immediate step in the present execution of the criminal design will be sufficient.'" (People v. Jones (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 616, 627.)

A person commits a crime "whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission." (Pen. Code, 31.) "An aider and abettor . . . must 'act with knowledge of the criminal purpose of the perpetrator and with an intent or purpose either of committing, or of encouraging or facilitating commission of, the offense.'" (People v. Mendoza (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1114, 1123.)

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