A Few Things You Need To Understand About Burglary Charges
If you have somehow managed to be charged with a burglary offense, it would be best to contact a criminal lawyer before doing anything. Do not talk to the police, your spouse, or anyone else until you have seen a lawyer. These charges can be quite damaging if you are convicted so you need to find legal help that will ensure you are not found guilty. Here are a few things you need to understand about the charges so you can help the attorney with your situation.
What is Burglary
A burglary is an act of breaking into or entering space or a building without permission with the intent of committing a crime. If all these elements cannot be proven, the charges will have to be dropped. Your lawyer will initially set out to disprove one of the elements.
Entering without Permission
Often, the fact that you were invited to the place is the way you will be acquited. Of course, if you were invited and then stole something you can still be charged with theft. This severity of a theft charge will depend on the value of what was stolen. In addition, if you can truly and reasonably say that you thought you had permission to be there, your lawyer may be able to get the charges dropped.
Intent
If you had no intention of committing the crime once you were inside, there is no burglary. In other words, even if you broke into the place, if you did so to find a phone or get a drink of water it is not burglary. You can still be charged with breaking and entering, but that is a much lesser crime.
Crime
It is important to realize that the crime involved with a burglary does not have to be theft. If you harm someone, damage property, or even start a fire, in addition to the crime committed you will have a burglary charge if the other elements are present. This is often done to ensure that you will be found guilty of something or to make the punishment more severe.
A burglary can be both difficult to prove as well as very hard to defend against. Contact an experienced criminal lawyer, like Cheryl Brown Attorney at Law, to make sure you do not end up spending years behind bars. Remember, even if no crime was committed, if you entered a building unauthorized with the intent of breaking a law, it is a burglary.