Conviction for Possession of Burglarious Tools Reversed

On June 1, 2007, the Court of Appeals of Virginia overturned the conviction of a Chesterfield woman for possession of burglarious tool. In a rare reversal, the Court followed its decision in Williams v. Commonwealth and held that there are limits to what can constitute a burglarious tool.

This case argued by Horace Hunter of the law firm of Hunter & Lipton, PC involved a Chesterfield woman who was charged with grand larceny and possession of burglarious tools for shoplifting from a Chesterfield department store. In what had become typical for Chesterfield County law enforcement, they charged her with possession of burglarious tools because she stuffed clothing items in an empty purse that she carried with her into the store. To be sure, there is not doubt that she was shop lifting and was caught shoplifting. However, she was not guilty of the additional felony of possession of burglarious tools no matter how creative law enforcement wants to get in charging people with additional crimes. The problem that we had was that the judges in Chesterfield County were routinely finding people guilty of possession of burglarious tools because they simply assumed that any item used in the commission of a larceny is a burglarious tool in spite of the fact that the original intent of the statute clearly does not contemplate this.

In a somewhat stunning reversal, the Court of Appeals agreed with the position taken by Horace Hunter. The Court held that the purse in this case was not inherently burglarious which was clearly the intent contemplated by the statute. In the grand scheme of things this is not a big case, but it is an important case. It’s important because it demonstrates the fact that you have to challenge the government and the prosecution particularly, as here, when the prosecution is using a statute to attempt to convict someone of a felony who clearly should not be.

 

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