Can I Ever Be Charged With A Theft-Related Offense In My Own Residence?
When it comes to whether or not someone is burglarizing a home, if it's your own home, you have a pretty strong argument that you cannot be charged with burglary because you have permission to be in there. It starts to get a little more complicated when you are off the lease but living there and getting kicked out.
Now, the person has revoked your permission, and you come back in and start taking things. The only way it can become a robbery is if someone is there and there is a fight over some of the items.
Then, you elevate it to a robbery because you used force to take the property. If you can clearly prove that the person thought they had permission to be at the location, it can be a complete defense to a burglary charge in Los Angeles.
Is A Hotel Room Considered A Dwelling House?
If someone is living in a hotel room and another person breaks into that hotel room, there could be a very strong argument for a burglary charge if they take things and do everything you would normally do when you break into a house.
If someone is just staying in a hotel room for a short period and another person comes in and steals some items, it would probably be another theft-related offense. Prosecutors would look at your overall criminal record to determine what type of criminal behavior you've been involved in the past.
The more criminal behavior you've been involved in, the more likely that you are going to be charged with a residential burglary versus a second-degree burglary or some other sort of theft-related offense.
Multiple Counts Of Robbery On Multiple Victims
If there are multiple victims, they can charge you with multiple counts in one criminal complaint. It depends on the facts and circumstances of the case. If someone breaks into a locker room and takes a bunch of people's items, that's probably just going to be one count of theft. What elevates it to a robbery is when someone uses some sort of force or fear to effectuate the theft.
Can Robbery Charges Be Reduce To A Lesser Offense?
Robbery is obviously a very serious charge. It's a strike, and it's a felony that will stay on your record for life if you get convicted of it. In 25 years, I've handled hundreds of robbery and theft cases and there are other offenses a robbery charge can be reduced to. A purse snatch, technically, is a robbery because you used force to take it.
A lot of times we can get that mitigated down to something other than a robbery offense.
However, if you use a weapon to commit a theft, you are probably not going to get that robbery reduced. A good criminal defense lawyer will show that whatever conduct you did that amounts to a robbery is out of character for you and give the prosecutors and the judge a game plan moving forward so they don't see you again.
