Supreme Court: Rim Job Not Burglary, Thanks to Partial Fence
If good fences make good neighbors, then bad fences make bad convictions. So says the state Supreme Court in a unanimous decision handed down this morning.
The facts: Roger Dean Engel entered the partially fenced yard of a Maple Valley business called Western Asphalt and stole some aluminum car wheels, or rims, in the parlance of our times. The King County Prosecuting Attorney charged him with 2nd Degree burglary, and the trial court convicted him. The thing is, burglary requires entry into a building with the intent to commit a crime. The law says a fenced area can be a building, but doesn't define what a fenced area is. Today, the Supreme Court said it has to be fenced all the way around. The Western Asphalt yard had a fence on one side and "sloping terrain" on the other.
Thus, says the court, the conviction must be vacated and the case dismissed. While a theft charge would seemingly apply to taking the rims, Engel can't be retried on a lesser charge. But King County Prosecuting Attorney spokesperson Dan Donohoe says that the office may go to the legislature and ask that they clarify what the meaning of "fenced area." The meaning of "rim job gone bad" will remain open to interpretation.
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