Burglary & Intent

I was drunk and decided that I needed to pee. I was walking home and I didn't think I would make it. I saw a house that looked vacant, so I went to the front door and turned the knob. The house wasn't locked. I walked in. I used the lavatory. It wasn't a vacant house, it was adapted for overnight accommodation. On my way out I saw a vase that looked good to me, so I picked it up to "look" at it and walked back out the front door. Once I was on the front lawn, I decided that I didn't like the vase so I chucked it behind a shrub. I walked home and passed out.

Am I guilty of any crimes?

We get a lot of questions about criminal law, but the number one question we get is, "are these questions for real or are they made up?" Someone asked this question; i kid you not.

This is definitely a criminal trespass. It's probably not a burglary, though some of my District Attorney friends would argue that it is burglary. The basic idea of burglary is that when you enter the property you have the intent to commit a crime therein. If you enter the house and you do not intend to commit a crime at the time that you enter, then you have not committed the crime of burglary. Criminal trespass doesn't count. If you enter the house with the intent to trespass, that is not a "crime therein," so you would not be guilty of burglary.

In this example, the person does not develop the intent to take the vase until AFTER they are already in the house. Therefore, there is no burglary based on the vase. The real question is whether peeing in someone else's home is disorderly conduct or criminal mischief, and whether those crimes can be the crime therein for a burglary. I would argue that peeing in the house IN THE BATHROOM is not a crime, so it is not burglary.

Minimums & Maximums

I was convicted of Aggravated Assault and given a sentence of eleven and a half to twenty three. I will be at my minimum next week. Will I get paroled on my minimum date?

If your sentence is one day less then one to two years, the judge who sentenced you controls your parole. If you received a sentence of one to two or more, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections controls your parole.

In your question, your parole is controlled by the judge who sentenced you. Each county and each judge have their methods and thoughts regarding parole. Many factors play into the judges' decisions regarding parole at the minimum. There is no way to gauge a particular judge's decisions regarding parole. Some factors may be: what the person has done with the their time, whether the prison is over crowed, the defendants role in the underlying case, reports from the prison, completed programs in prison, etc.

Why Do I Still Have a Detainer?

I was on probation and I got locked up for a new case. My back judge put a detainer on me. I was told by my lawyer that the judge won't lift the detainer until she learns the outcome of the front case. I decided to fight the front case. I went to trial this week and I was found not guilty. I am still locked up because the detainer from the back judge is still in place. Why do I still have a detainer?

The back judge has to list a Gagnon II, also known as a violation of probation hearing or VOP, every 30 days to keep the detainer in place. If the you have been locked up on a detainer since the time of your arrest on the front/new case then your VOP has been listed every thirty days whether you know it or not. That means that you have a court date for your VOP within the next thirty days, probably less.

At that hearing, the judge can only violate you for technical violations, not for a direct because you were found not guilty. Techs are things like not reporting and dirty urines, etc. The amount of punishment is usually far less for technicals compared to a direct.

If the judge does not see you within thirty days of the date of the previous VOP hearing and you have nothing else holding you, you can get your detainer certified and the prison must let you out.