A defendant removed a window screen at a home, when he noticed a woman inside, and realized that she had spotted him. He then left. Was this breaking and entering?
By a 2-1 vote, the Court of Appeals upheld defendant’s conviction. See State v. Anthony Holt (April 27, 2015).
Judge Michael Bustamante wrote for the majority, upholding the conviction because the defendant’s placement of his fingers into the space between the screen and the window constituted an “unauthorized entry of any … dwelling or other structure.” Judge Roderick Kennedy dissented, because he thought that the statutory language did not cover this sort of situation.
