2nd Degree Burglary

Under Arizona law, there are three different degrees of burglary that a person can be charged with.

Burglary three is the lowest, burglary two is in the middle, and burglary one, the first degree of burglary, is the most serious charge.

In this video we’re talking about second-degree burglary, so the one in the middle and this applies to residential structures. So, burglary three mostly applies to non-residential or residential yards, this applies to the actual residence. So, a place where somebody is living. It’s defined by the statute 13-1507, so if you wanted to Google that, Arizona revised statutes 13-1507, you’re going to see these three elements that are required under the law.

First and foremost, there needs to be some sort of physicality, some sort of intrusion and so a person is entering or they’re remaining unlawfully in a location

So, they’re actually crossing a barrier, they’re entering or they are not supposed to be there and they’re remaining unlawfully.

So, maybe they had access to a certain point, but then that permission was revoked and they continued to remain there against the law. That’s the first element. So, where is all that taking place?

It’s in or it’s on a residential structure.

Okay, so this would be a home, this is where people are residing.

Residential structure is defined elsewhere but it’s essentially where people are living.

So, if there is a structure and people are living there and you are entering or you’re remaining there without any permission to do so, those two elements are going to be met and then finally, you need to do that with the intent to commit a theft or another felony.

So, a theft would be removing property, you’re entering into a residential structure with the intent to remove property, or to commit another felony. So, this could be computer tampering, this could be a criminal damage, this could be aggravated assault, could be doing something that is not necessarily removing property, but it’s committing some other sort of felony within that residential structure.

You hit all the three of those elements, prosecutors are likely to charge you with it.

Now, it is a serious charge. In Arizona this is not something that is minor. It is a felony. As a reminder, this is the scale of different felonies that we have in Arizona. Class two is the most serious felony, class six is the least serious felony and so you have to understand, that if you are charged with second-degree burglary, it’s going to be considered a class three felony.

Okay, so it’s almost at the top. It’s very serious, it’s something that requires a diligent legal team to ensure that we can find out where some of these elements are wrong or where there was no actual felony committed and that would undermine this particular element.

Our office, we do a lot of these types of cases.

We help a lot of people through them. We have great experience and virtually every court across Arizona, so if you or a loved one is being charged with second-degree burglary, give us a call.

We’ll schedule a free case evaluation with you.

We’ll talk about the facts of your case, make sure you understand the process and that you have a good plan moving forward to ensure you’re not being convicted of a class three felony. Give us a call, free case evaluations, look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thanks for watching.