A New Auto Burg Bill and Some Good, Old Fun Learning About Burglary and Theft Law

From the Classroom: Theft and burglary case law review
By: Ray Hill Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College 

Legislative Update 

State Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) has introduced SB905, which could be a major change in the auto burglary statute, currently a second-degree felony/wobbler. As you know, currently your investigation must establish evidence to prove a vehicle was locked or there were reasonable precautions to secure it for the burglary statute to be charged. SB905 would amend the statute to read that any forcible entry into a vehicle, regardless of “locked status,” is burglary. So, if a perpetrator smashed a window to enter without checking whether the vehicle was locked, the corpus of burglary would apply (in other words the perp wasn’t abiding by the traditional fire service motto “Try before you pry!”).

Weiner introduced similar legislation in 2018 and 2019, but the bills died in the legislature. Let’s hope he has better luck this time around. 

This amendment seems to make sense in light of the present day M.O. of perpetrators, it would avoid the inconvenience to crime victims who would have to travel to testify, and it would certainly facilitate charging this crime. 

Test Your Theft Knowledge 

Let’s try a quiz on case law relating to the burglary and theft statutes in the Penal and Vehicle ....