Charges involving someone’s dwelling or breaking of someone’s privacy of the home are treated seriously. The idea being that a person’s home is their sanctuary, it is a place of their comfort, and anybody trying to impose on that is treated severely. The prosecution definitely treats burglary as a more severe charge as opposed to larceny.
If you are facing these types of charges, it is essential that you consult a knowledgeable burglary lawyer. Anything involving breaking and entering a dwelling or a house is treated severely. Virginia burglary prosecution can ask for the maximum punishment and are less willing to take into account any mitigating evidence or mitigating factors when some are presented.
As defined by the statute, burglary is entering the dwelling with intent to commit larceny, assault, and battery or any charge. The way that is defined is easily broken down into a few elements. There has to be the entry of the dwelling. A prosecutor needs to prove the person had the intention to enter a dwelling by the means of entering or breaking down the door, or another way in. The Virginia burglary prosecution team need to prove that the person had a chance to change their mind but purposefully entered the dwelling with the intent to commit a crime.
In terms of the elements, thinking of burglary as the entering of a dwelling with the intent to commit a felony, there has to be the entry of the dwelling or actually entry, that can be satisfied by breaking a window and entering part of it by putting an arm or hand inside the building. Second, it has to be a dwelling or a house, a person cannot burglar an open field, private land, or a private farm; it has to be a dwelling or a house.
The way that is defined is a place someone uses for their place of abode, a place where someone lives, that is their home. It has to be a dwelling and it has to be with the intent to commit a crime and they commit a felony to be specific.
A person has to be entering the dwelling with the intent to commit larceny, which is a taking of property, which is the most common one, maybe picking a property, stealing something, or assault and battery, they are entering a dwelling or a building to get back at somebody to harm them in any way or assault them. It could be other types of larceny or other types of assault and battery or crimes such as sexual battery or rape.
Virginia burglary prosecution needs to prove that the entry was done with the intent to commit a felony and then unfortunately if a deadly weapon was used and the persecution is trying to prove that for that reason the punishment should be aggravated to the Class 2 felony, then this is an element that needs to be proven. There are four elements, most cases will have just three if there is not a deadly weapon involved. The first element is entering, second is entering a dwelling or a house, and the third would be intent to commit a felony, larceny, assault, and battery, or any type of larceny, and that in cases when a deadly weapon was used, then that will be a fourth element to be proven as well.
Northern Virginia Criminal Defense Group
