Castle Doctrine Under Attack in Montana

[Aguila Blanca]

Consider for a moment, if you go up to a stranger's house, and go inside, through an unlocked door, the crime you might be charged with is "Breaking and entering", even though you broke nothing.

In fact, I considered exactly that. I very clearly remember when I was a teen-ager there was a rash of burglaries in our small town. The town was a lot smaller then, and my parents were on a first-name basis with the Chief of Police and all two of the patrol officers. I was present when my parents discussed the nuances of burglary charges with one of the officers. He was very clear that entering through a closed but unlocked door was "unlawful entry" but was NOT "breaking and entering." In order for them to arrest for "breaking and entering," the thief had to actually break (or pick) something.

I think that was when my parents started locking the front door at night.

However, that was over fifty years ago, and it wasn't California.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Too much personal bickering and it has reached an unacceptable level.
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