Offense: 4 counts of Burglary of a Motor Vehicle (class “D” misdemeanor) & 4 counts of Theft by Receipt of Stolen Property (Class “E” misdemeanor)
Maximum Penalty: 6 years if convicted on all counts and sentenced consecutively on all counts; $12,000.00 maximum fine; probation.
Summary: This case went all the way to trial, in spite of my protestations that the evidence in the case was extremely weak. The Government presented 6 witnesses and 6 pieces of evidence from the burglarized vehicles. 4 of the witnesses were victims of the crime, the 5th witness found the stolen property and attributed it to my client and the 6th witness was the lead detective in the case. 2 of the 4 victims couldn’t be sure if the stolen property that was presented as evidence was actually the property stolen from their cars. The government’s 2 star witnesses flopped. The witness who reported the crime and attributed the stolen property to my client never saw my client in possession of the stolen items and even testified that other people lived in his apartment as well and that the stolen property could have belonged to another resident of the apartment. The lead detective testified that no DNA analysis was done on any of the items or on any of the vehicles and that no latent prints were able to be lifted for analysis. The lead detective further testified that another party who lived in the home was briefly interviewed but that the interview was NOT supplied as part of discovery.
Result: Following trial and on a motion for acquittal, the court agreed that there was no evidence to tie my client to any of the 8 criminal counts he was charged with. As a result, the motion was granted and my client was acquitted of all criminal charges.
