Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Vehicle Burglary

This sounds like a homework assignment for a paralegal training program. I have a radical suggestion for you -- try to actually do your own homework instead of getting the answers through deceit and manipulation.

When you have a law firm job and an attorney asks you to find a citation for her, she will expect you to have the skills needed to get the information on your own. She will not want to wait for you to find a semi-clever way to coax the information out of someone who actually has the skills you merely pretend to have.

This question also tests your substantive knowledge of the law -- specifically, the distinction between burglary and theft. In the real world, you won't get very far if all you can do is pretend to know these things.

And believe it or not, the vast majority of lawyers are honest, hard-working people who expect their paralegals to conduct themselves the same way. Your career prospects will be much brighter if you actually study and learn what you are supposed to learn instead of merely finding ways to get answers without actually learning anything in the process.

Re: Vehicle Burglary

The California burglary statute, (Penal Code � 459), forbids burglary of locked motor vehicles, unlocked railroad cars, motor homes, inhabited campers, etc., as well as structures.

The crime itself consists of "entry" into an enumerated area "with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony . . . ." (Penal Code � 459.)

If the record of conviction establishes that the offense involved auto burglary, or the burglary of anything other than a "structure," then the offense does not constitute "burglary" within the meaning of federal law.

In Solorzano-Patlan v. INS, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 3641 (7th Cir. 2000), the court held that a respondent convicted of burglary of a motor vehicle in violation of an Illinois statute had not been convicted of "burglary" as that term was used in 8 U.S.C. � 1101(a)(43)(G).

What you have then, is a conflict versus California and Federal Law, which in turn, creates the possibility of a federal writ, or an issue on appeal, and thus leverage in a California case.

Thanks for your question.