State v. Lopez
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State v. Lopez
Opinion of the Court
The question presented in this case is whether appellant Lionel Lopez committed burglary when he entered another guest's hotel room without consent and committed a crime in that room. Following a court trial, the district court found Lopez guilty of first-degree burglary. A divided court of appeals affirmed Lopez's conviction. Because we conclude that a hotel guest commits a burglary if he or she exceeds the scope of consent by entering another *335guest's hotel room and committing a crime while in the other guest's room, we affirm.
FACTS
This case arises from a theft at a motel in Willmar.
The State's evidence established that on the night of the theft, Lopez was also a guest at the hotel and was seen wandering the halls and checking hotel room doors to see if they were locked. When he came to Z.D.'s room, Lopez found the door unlatched and entered the room. Lopez took a cell phone and a wallet containing $42 in cash that he found in Z.D.'s room.
Following an investigation, the State charged Lopez with first-degree burglary,
On appeal, Lopez argued that the State failed to prove an essential element of burglary: that he entered a building without consent.
ANALYSIS
On appeal, Lopez argues that his burglary conviction should be reversed because the evidence is insufficient. We use the same standard of review to evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence in bench trials and jury trials. State v. Palmer ,
Lopez grounds his sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument in the first-degree burglary statute, and he contends that the State *336failed to prove an essential element of first-degree burglary. In order to prove that Lopez committed first-degree burglary, the State must prove, among other things, that Lopez "enter[ed] a building without consent and with intent to commit a crime, or enter[ed] a building without consent and commit[ed] a crime while in the building."
Lopez argues that he did not commit burglary when he entered Z.D.'s hotel room because, as a guest of the hotel, he had permission to be in the hotel building. He contends that Z.D.'s hotel room was not a separate building but was rather part of the hotel building, a building in which Lopez had consent to be. Lopez also argues that a hotel room cannot be a separate building because that would be contrary to the common understanding of what the word "structure" means. Instead, he claims that a hotel room is merely a connected structure located within the overall hotel building, rather than a separate building.
The State disagrees with Lopez's interpretation, and contends that Z.D.'s hotel room was a separate building under the burglary statute. Because "structure" means anything assembled out of component parts, and a hotel room is a structure suitable for affording shelter to human beings, the State argues that each hotel room is a separate building. Independent of its statutory interpretation argument, the State urges us to affirm Lopez's conviction based on our analysis in State v. McDonald ,
It is not necessary to resolve the statutory interpretation issue the parties present in this case.
The defendant in McDonald entered a drugstore during business hours, but at a time when the pharmacy inside was closed.
We affirmed McDonald's burglary conviction. McDonald ,
Lopez argues that McDonald is distinguishable because the burglary statute defines "building" differently now than it did when McDonald was decided. The State argues that the difference in the statutory definition of "building" is not relevant. The State contends that McDonald simply established a rule that if a person exceeds the scope of the consent and then commits a crime, it is a burglary. We agree with the State.
Lopez is correct that the prior version of the burglary statute specifically defined a building to be both a structure suitable for affording shelter for human beings and a separately occupied portion of such a structure. The current version of the statute uses different language to define "building." Compare
First, the provision in the definition of building that "include[d] portions of such structure as are separately occupied,"
Instead of focusing on the nature of the building in McDonald , we focused on consent. We held "that the burglary was complete once defendant exceeded the scope of the consent given him and other members of the public and entered the storage room" with the intent to commit a crime.
Second, the portions of the burglary statute at issue in McDonald have remained the same since that case was decided, with only minor stylistic changes. Today, what constitutes "enter[ing] a building without consent" means exactly what it did in 1983. Compare
Applying the rule from McDonald to the facts of this case, Lopez undeniably had the hotel's consent to be present in the hotel's common areas and the room he rented for the night, but he did not have consent to enter other, non-public areas of the hotel.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.
Affirmed.
Concurring, Lillehaug, Chutich, and McKeig, JJ.
CONCURRENCE
The conduct at issue here occurred at the Super 8 Motel in Willmar, Minnesota. A motel traditionally has rooms that open directly onto a parking lot, with no common, shared space besides the lobby on the property. See American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1178 (3d ed. 1996). In contrast, a hotel traditionally has rooms that open into a common or shared space within the building. Motel , Wikipedia (last updated Sep. 5, 2017 7:59 AM), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Motel& oldid=799038666 [opinion attachment]. The Super 8 Motel in Willmar has the layout of a hotel and to avoid confusion, we refer to it as a hotel.
Lopez is not appealing his theft conviction.
The concurrence does not resolve the statutory question the parties present either. Rather than answer the question the parties present-whether a hotel room is a "building" under
After concluding that the phrase it interprets is ambiguous, the concurrence looks to the canons of construction in an effort to resolve the ambiguity. But the canons the concurrence cites do not support the concurrence's proposed resolution of the ambiguity. The concurrence cites the whole-statute canon and then looks to the second-degree burglary statute,
The concurrence also turns to the former burglary statute, which as the concurrence notes, included "portions of such structures as are separately occupied." Because the old statute included this phrase, the concurrence inserts the phrase back into the amended statute. But when the Legislature amends a statute, we presume that the Legislature changed the law. Braylock v. Jesson ,
Lopez acknowledged in his brief that he "had consent to enter the motel in which he was staying as a guest, but not to enter all of the separate rented rooms within that motel."
Concurring Opinion
I agree with the opinion of the court that Lionel Lopez committed a burglary when he entered another guest's hotel room without that guest's consent. I write separately and respectfully, however, because I have difficulty with the court's exclusive reliance on State v. McDonald ,
I.
The first-degree burglary statute, in relevant part, makes it a crime for a person to "enter[ ] a building without consent and *339with intent to commit a crime."
In this case, Lopez entered one portion of the building with consent, but then entered another portion of the building without consent. The question before us is: does this factual situation satisfy the elements of the crime of burglary?
Relying solely on McDonald , the majority says yes. McDonald upheld the burglary conviction of a defendant who entered a drugstore open to the public but who then, "without consent, entered a closed storage room that was off limits to the general public."
McDonald is useful precedent, but has precious little, if any, analysis.
II.
The statutory definition of "enters a building without consent" is perfectly clear when applied to a single-use building or a single-family dwelling. If the person in lawful possession of a single-family home consents to another person entering the home, that person cannot subsequently be convicted of burglarizing the home. The non-consent element would be lacking.
But the meaning of "enters a building without consent" becomes more complicated when we consider buildings that contain multiple, separate portions. After all, the owner or manager of an apartment building or hotel is not considered to be "in lawful possession" of the tenant-occupied units contained within that larger structure. It is the lawful occupant of a particular unit who lawfully possesses that unit, and thus can consent (or not consent) to another person entering that unit. See, e.g. , Stoner v. California ,
In this context, there are two reasonable interpretations of the phrase "enters a building without consent."
On the other hand, "enters a building without consent" could be read as necessarily including the entering of a separate portion of a building without consent. This reading recognizes the modern reality that buildings often consist of multiple units or subdivisions that are put to different uses and are possessed by different occupants. Under this interpretation, if Lopez entered the hotel lobby with consent, he can nevertheless be guilty of first-degree burglary by entering a hotel room without the consent of the occupant.
Because there are two reasonable readings of the phrase "enters a building without consent," it is ambiguous. See State v. Nelson ,
III.
Several canons of construction are useful here. I first consider "the mischief to be remedied," "the object to be obtained," and the "consequences of a particular interpretation."
Plainly, the purpose of the burglary statute is to prevent people from unlawfully entering buildings to commit crimes. The statute further singles out the burglary of a dwelling as first-degree burglary, suggesting that the Legislature thought it was particularly important to secure people while they are residing in their "permanent or temporary residence."
A second useful canon to apply in this case is the whole-statute canon. See State v. Riggs ,
Third, when interpreting an ambiguous statute we may also consider "the circumstances under which [the statute] was enacted" and "the former law."
At the time McDonald committed his crime, the statute defined "building" as follows: " 'Building' includes a dwelling or other structure suitable for affording shelter for human beings or appurtenant to or connected with a structure so adapted, and includes portions of such structure as are separately occupied ."
I think not. We faced a similar issue involving the burglary statute in State v. Vredenberg ,
The fact thatMinn. Stat. § 609.58 , subd. 1(2), does not specifically include 'vessel' within the definition of 'building' does not mean that the legislature intended to exclude boats.... The aim of the drafters of the revised statute was to streamline the definition, not to omit certain *342structures from the protection of the statute.
Granted, the streamlining we recognized in Vredenberg was documented by detailed legislative history, for which there is no 1983 counterpart. But we do know that, when the Legislature changed the burglary statute in 1983, only a few years after Vredenberg , the Legislature's intent was to strengthen, not weaken, the statute: it doubled the maximum sentence and fine for the burglary of an occupied dwelling. Compare
Considering these canons together, the better reading of the phrase "enters a building without consent" is that the statute extends to entering portions of the building-in this case, a hotel room-without the consent of the occupant. That reading is also consistent with McDonald . Therefore, Lopez committed first-degree burglary when, without consent and with the intent to commit a crime, he entered someone else's hotel room.
The appeal, filed in December 1982, came directly to us from the district court, rather than from the court of appeals. The Minnesota Court of Appeals did not begin its work until November 1, 1983. Minn. Stat. § 480A.01 (2016). McDonald was considered on March 19, 1984, and the three-paragraph opinion was filed on April 6, 1984, less than three weeks later. The single paragraph discussing the burglary issue consists of three sentences: the first states the facts, the second rejects an argument by the State (not relevant here), and the third is the holding.
The holding of the court of appeals majority was based on a third interpretation-that a room is a separate "building." The court of appeals dissent disagreed. The opinion of our court does not reach that legal issue. Neither does this concurrence.
The Legislature continued to strengthen the burglary statute in subsequent sessions. In 1984, the maximum fine for burglarizing a dwelling was increased to $35,000. See Act of May 2, 1984, ch. 628, art. 3, § 6,
Concurring Opinion
I join in the concurrence of Justice Lillehaug.
Concurring Opinion
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Minnesota v. Lionel LOPEZ
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